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What does it mean to consider the world of AI through a Christian lens? Rapid developments in AI continue to reshape society, raising new ethical questions and challenging our understanding of the human person. Encountering Artificial Intelligence draws on Pope Francis's discussion of a culture of encounter and broader themes in Catholic social thought in order to examine how current AI applications affect human relationships in various social spheres and offers concrete recommendations for better implementation. The document also explores questions regarding personhood, consciousness, and the kinds of relationships humans might have with even the most advanced AI. Through these discussions, the document investigates the theoretical and practical challenges to interpersonal encounter raised by the age of AI.

This cutting-edge book explores Shakespeare's negotiation of Reformation controversy about theories of salvation. While twentieth century literary criticism tended to regard Shakespeare as a harbinger of secularism, the so-called ""turn to religion"" in early modern studies has given renewed attention to the religious elements in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Nevertheless, there remains an aura of uncertainty regarding some of the doctrinal and liturgical specificities of the period. This historical gap is especially felt with respect to theories of salvation, or soteriology. Such ambiguity, however, calls for further inquiry into historical theology. The author explores how the language and concepts of faith, grace, charity, the sacraments, election, free will, justification, sanctification, and atonement find expression in Shakespeare's plays. In doing so, this book contributes to the recovery of a greater understanding of the relationship between early modern religion and Shakespearean drama. While the author shares David Scott Kastan's reluctance to attribute particular religious convictions to Shakespeare, in some cases such critical guardedness has diverted attention from the religious topography of Shakespeare's plays. Throughout this study, the author's hermeneutic is to read Shakespeare through the lens of early modern theological controversy and to read early modern theology through the lens of Shakespeare.

In recent years, the Vietnamese diaspora, including some of whom are Protestant Christian Việt Kiều, have returned to their natal homeland of Vietnam in large numbers. This book investigates the phenomenon of the Protestant Christian Việt Kiều who have returned and reestablished belonging in Vietnam with a missional purpose and the perspective of non-migrant local Protestant Christian leaders as a case study of diaspora missiology. It is based upon doctoral research utilizing in-depth interviews which sought to answer the following questions: 1) What are the motivating factors of Protestant Christian Việt Kiều returning to Vietnam for mission-related purposes? 2) What has been the experience in ministry of the returning Protestant Christian Việt Kiều regarding mission-related reasons for returning? 3) How have the non-migrants experienced the phenomenon of return? This book explores the answers to these questions as a case study of diaspora missiology. Findings suggest that the Protestant Christian Việt Kiều are welcomed back in Vietnam and contributing in many dynamic ways in the homeland. At the same time, the return journey is a road layered with complexities, contradictions, opportunities, and unique challenges. Findings from this diaspora community engaged in missions by and beyond the diaspora give insight into the paradigm of diaspora missiology and temper the enthusiasm for widely promoted theory. Important questions arise regarding how far diaspora as a framework can carry us.

The doctrine of glorification is a biblical teaching that has been neglected within the Protestant church and, therefore, underdeveloped in our day. For whatever reason that may be, glorification is a doctrine that will affect every aspect of one's overarching theology, especially the doctrine of soteriology. What one ultimately believes about the future will significantly impact their present. This book shows that this neglect or lack of development has not always been the case within the church, especially within Reformed Protestantism. Looking at one of the most influential second-generation reformers and theologians of the English Reformation, William Perkins (1558-1602), it becomes evident that embedded within the Reformed Scholastic tradition lays a robust development and understanding of the doctrine of glorification. Perkins formulated and wrote a great deal on the final state of the believer in Christ, what his rewards are in Christ, and, ultimately, his complete and final transformation and conformity into his image. This book is a historical and systematic treatment of William Perkins's celebrated hope, eschatological glory.

This festschrift honors Aloysius Fitzgerald, F.S.C. The essays largely reflect the honoree's interests in the poetic and prophetic material of the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near Eastern context of that material. The volume includes an introduction by Joseph Jensen, O.S.B. and the following articles: Leslie J, Hoppe, O.ftM., "Vengeance and Forgiveness: The Two Faces of Psalm 79" (pp. 1-22); Mark S. Smith, "The Poetics of Exodus 15 and Its Position in the Book" (pp. 23-34); Susan F. Mathews, "The Power to Endure and Be Transformed: Sun and Moon Imagery in Joel and Revelation 6" (pp. 35-49); Gregory J. Polan, O.S.B., "Zion, the Glory of the Holy One of Israel: A Literary Analysis of Isaiah 60" (pp. 50-71); Maribeth Howell, O.P., "A Closer Look: Isaiah 35:110" (pp. 72-80); Mark D. Futato, "Sense Relations in the 'Rain' Domain of the Old Testament" (pp. 81-94); John J. Ferrie, Jr., "Singing in the Rain: A Meteorological Image in Isaiah 42:10-12" (pp. 95-104); Irene Nowell, O.S.B., "Psalm 88: A Lesson in Lament" (pp. 105-18); Dale Launderville, O.S.B., "Anti-monarchical Ideology in Israel in Light of Mesopotamian Parallels" (pp. 119-28); Edward G. Mathews, Jr., "Water in the First Creation Account of Genesis I in the Commentary on Genesis of Ephrem the Syrian" (pp. 129-44); Deirdre Dempsey, "The Verb Syntax of the Idol Passage of Isaiah 44:9-20" (pp. 145-56); Alice Ogden Bellis, "The New Exodus in Jeremiah 50:33-38" (pp. 157-68); Lawrence Boadt, C.S.P., "Re-Examining a Preexilic Redaction of Isaiah 1-39" (pp. 169-90).

Philo of Byblos in the early Roman imperial period claimed to have translated the work of an ancient author Sanchuniathon who recorded stories of the ancient Canaanite gods, stories that resemble the myths found in Ugaritic sources. This monograph provides an English translation of Philo's Greek text with an introduction and notes.

At the end of the fourth century, Jerome decided to translate the Old Testament into Latin from the Hebrew manuscripts that were available to him, and not from the ""traditional"" Greek text. This fact provoked a reaction from Augustine, who considered that the Greek translation of the LXX must be the starting point of every translation, since it had the authority of the apostles. The two great figures of the Latin West engaged in a dialectical battle in which we find clearly delineated the two principles which are in tension and which have determined the reception of the biblical text down to our time: the value of the ""original"" text (hebraica veritas) and the authority of the text received by the church (Septuaginta auctoritas). In facing this ""battle,"" we are dealing with some very up-to-date questions: Is it possible to speak of a canonical text of the Old Testament? In what language is that text? On what text should our liturgical translations be based? Is there an ""original"" text of the Bible? Can an ancient version be superior to the text it is translating? What is the value of the LXX?

This collection of essays addresses aspects of Christian identity formation as God's holy people in a global context in the midst of various challenges. The contributors offer interdisciplinary explorations on what it means to live as God's holy people in different settings and consider challenging questions from biblical, historical, theological, missiological, and pastoral perspectives.

In this volume Henry G. Meecham provides a critical edition of the Greek text of the Epistle to Diognetus, accompanied by a translation, notes, and introductory material. The original publication has been lightly revised for a contemporary audience.

Framed within the lens of Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership model, Truth and Reconciliation examines and explores trends through global historical accounts and examples of diplomatic leadership surrounding the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions of South Africa and Canada, as a guide to approach America's divided identity and racial tensions. Through the wisdom and diplomacy illustrated during the transition of a South African nation defined by legal racial segregation of apartheid to democracy, as well as a Canadian national identity deeply scarred through the cultural genocide of generations of First Nations children and families through the abusive Residential School system and the Sixties Scoop, it is the hope that this manuscript will offer insights as well as a theological lens for reflection to approach a nonviolent narrative-based option of seeking truth and the first steps toward reconciliation, beyond cyclic ideologies. By highlighting the historical parallels between South Africa, Canada, and America, this manuscript serves as a conversation starter, offering reflective stories and activities to help establish an initial dialogue in a nation whose consciousness remains deeply rooted in unresolved cultural conflict from Indigenous genocide as well as the residual deep cultural challenges and stereotypes of American slavery ideology and practices.

In this compelling research, Kent Michael Shaw I reveals a concise and comprehensive work on the development of Missions Theology informed by the perspectives from early African American missionaries. Missiology Reimagined unveils the hidden and ignored missions history of enslaved and free African Americans during the antebellum period of the United States. This book helps the student of missiology decipher how the events of the 1800s shaped the missions theology of Black Americans. The enslaved of that day constructed a hermeneutic and interpreted the sacred text through a lens that contradicted their enslaver's version of Christianity. Through these constructs, they critically engaged in scripture and formulated a theology of mission contextualized for their lived experience. This insight compelled them to risk death and re-enslavement to pursue a global mandate from God. These pioneering missionaries would emerge as experts in the field of global evangelism, heralding them as both missionaries and missiologists. Since they were practitioners and students of Scripture, an applied mission's theology would materialize. The reader will observe how this theological formation influenced the black church in the nineteenth century and their missiology reimagined. These men and women held two titles: missionary and missiologist. These pioneer missionaries would emerge as early experts in the field of global evangelism. As practitioners and students of scripture, an applied mission's theology evolved. The reader will observe how this theological formation would shape the black church in the nineteenth century and a reimagined missiology.

Christian Ethics Introduced asks why humans count as ends in themselves. The biblical answer was/is that humans have standing--inherent worth--as creatures in the image of God. This traditional answer yielded to seventeenth and eighteenth century enlightenment secularism. To these secularists, human reason promised to be a surer and more peaceable foundation for a just culture than religion. Human rationality--the light of human reason--would enlighten and improve the human condition. Two world wars and more realistic trends in new social sciences created not just awareness of human irrationality but fostered skepticism of sound foundations for morality and justice. It seemed that both traditional religion and enlightened reason fell short of what had been hoped. And the cause of failure may not lie in traditional religion or in human irrationality. Rather, the problem might lie in human conduct. Specifically, it may lie in the human inclination to favor self over others, of the ""me"" outranking the ""we."" Christian responses to the human failure to live a moral and just life recognize the persistence of immoral conduct, acknowledge it in regard to oneself, ask for forgiveness, and make amends and peace with God and with those wronged.

Following a series of economic and political changes in the late 1980s, art/design schools and performing arts academies were incorporated into the university system. To justify their teachings as academic research, they developed the idea of practice‐led research. Practice-led research recognizes two or more languages--that is, the validity of both explicit/propositional knowledge and embodied/tacit knowledge--allowing for the researcher's corresponding output, expressed through both the written word and relevant practice. Christians often find themselves living a life of two languages: a set of intellectual beliefs and the practice of being a Christian. This book develops this methodology and translates it for use in theological research. Most importantly, it clearly develops key elements of this methodology using a comprehensive model and detailed definitions. This is a book which not only presents a fully articulated and flexible model of practice‐led research, but also presents Christian researchers with an approach they could incorporate into their theological work.

This contextual biblical reading of Luke 18:18-30 (the encounter between Jesus and the rich ruler) foregrounds the political and economic context of the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). The reading carefully explores the biblical text's context, an exploration that includes looking at specific intertextual sources and engaging scholars from Asian and African contexts. The reading is then applied to a contextual biblical approach to poverty in Samoan society. The contextual biblical reading resituates the ruler in the Lukan narrative within the context of the household and the institutional constraints of its ecological environment. The theoretical framework for the contextual biblical reading is guided by the Samoan proverb seu le manu ae taga'i ile galu (catch the bird and watch the wave), symbolizing responsibility and restraint in biblical interpretation. At the end of the contextual biblical reading, a new way of reading Luke is presented, and three broad propositions are suggested for further consideration. The main argument of this deep contextual reading of the Lukan passage is that the rich ruler offers a different form of "following," which is possible by "living responsibly with wealth."

A useful work for all interested in the history of the alphabet. Hamilton shows a direct correspondence between the West Semitic alphabet and its proposed Egyptian counterparts. Following an examination of the various Egyptian prototypes, each grapheme of the various "Canaanite" scripts is shown and described in exhaustive detail in terms of feature and stance. Subsequently, each individual unit is augmented with a survey of the development of the names of letters and their vocalization, with the author pointing to acrophony, rhyming, and "clipping" as factors in their nomenclature. Hamilton also provides summary charts of the ancient Egyptian models and West Semitic derivatives.

This book challenges Christian communities to engage in lament--a mode of existence characterized by impassioned expression, witnessing, and personal or social protest in the face of evil and injustice, reflecting a profound yearning for God's saving presence. Divine lament responds to, and expresses solidarity with, human suffering, unveiling multiple facets of God's image and demonstrating a profound sense of divine compassion. Drawing on the Book of Lamentations, Korean concepts related to suffering (han and hanpuri), the Paschal Triduum narratives, and recent homiletic discourses on suffering, the author investigates how complex issues related to grief and hope can be addressed in preaching without diminishing the harsh reality of affliction. Designed to assist preachers, this book encourages a more intentional approach to addressing suffering, specifically by advocating for lament as a transitional space between affliction and hope. Furthermore, readers are invited to contemplate the significance of the church, which, within a world in decline, embodies the body of Christ, manifesting both the demise and resurrection of God.

ERT publishes quality articles and book reviews from around the world (both original and reprinted) from an evangelical perspective, reflecting global evangelical scholarship for the purpose of discerning the obedience of faith, and of relevance and importance to its international readership of theologians, educators, church leaders, missionaries, administrators and students.The journal is published as a ministry rather than as a commercial project, seeking to be of service to the worldwide spread of the gospel and the building up of the church and its leadership, in co-ordination with the World Evangelical Alliance's broader mission and activities.

Character Theology provides a natural, universal way for the world to engage God through his chosen cast of characters. As the media eras continue to change (oral to print to digital-virtual), too many Bible scholars, and consequently pastors and Bible teachers in the West and beyond, lack capability to effectively communicate Scripture to Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha. These generations find little if any relevance in the Christianity promoted by those stuck in modernity's sticky abstract systematic theology. Character Theology relates, sticks, and transforms these generations. Why? Because people grasp and engage God most naturally and precisely through his interaction with biblical characters and their interaction with each other! Characters communicate the Creator's characteristics. The roadmap to the recovery and expansion of Christianity in the twenty-first century will be through Bible characters.

In this volume Henry G. Meecham provides a critical edition of the Greek text of the Epistle to Diognetus, accompanied by a translation, notes, and introductory material. The original publication has been lightly revised for a contemporary audience.

Reclaiming Men's Spirituality is a study that investigates men's spirituality by exploring three research questions: Can a form of spirituality about men be identified and described, how can this spirituality be examined, and what is it that needs to be reclaimed? To answer these questions and at the same time remain committed to the importance of lived experience, this study opted to investigate the lives of men by attending to ten spiritual histories. The study is situated in Malta, and the ten spiritual histories provide access to various features, expressions, and contours that relate closely to men's being. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with ten spiritual directors who have men as spiritual directees. Their contribution clarifies the structure of men's spirituality, the effort required when directing male spiritual directees and the impact generated in the lives of men thanks to spiritual direction. To provide a frame of reference for the examination of all the gathered data, John of the Cross's spiritual framework has been chosen as the mystical instrument against which men's spiritualities are studied, leading to richer insights into the operations, motives, goals, and problems of such spiritualities.

Philo of Byblos in the early Roman imperial period claimed to have translated the work of an ancient author Sanchuniathon who recorded stories of the ancient Canaanite gods, stories that resemble the myths found in Ugaritic sources. This monograph provides an English translation of Philo's Greek text with an introduction and notes.

Have you wrestled with the complexity of classroom teaching? Have you often wondered what might be impeding your performance in the classroom? Parker J. Palmer's exploration into teaching and the problems that teachers encounter offers practical theories that address the questions one has or perhaps might not have thought to ask. This book is about Parker J. Palmer's theories of education interwoven with his spiritual vision of education. Undergirding the spiritual aspect of his vision is his theory about the significance of the teacher's authentic self. Within the narrative is the personal story of one teacher's daunting experiences as she ventured into the field of teaching after a career in the corporate world. Meeting Palmer while in graduate school, and closely studying his work, served to modify her perspective about teaching for the better. This ultimately changed her as a teacher in ways that could not have occurred had she not had this encounter. This book aims to inform as well as to help transform the experience of teaching for both teacher and student.

ERT publishes quality articles and book reviews from around the world (both original and reprinted) from an evangelical perspective, reflecting global evangelical scholarship for the purpose of discerning the obedience of faith, and of relevance and importance to its international readership of theologians, educators, church leaders, missionaries, administrators and students.The journal is published as a ministry rather than as a commercial project, seeking to be of service to the worldwide spread of the gospel and the building up of the church and its leadership, in co-ordination with the World Evangelical Alliance's broader mission and activities.