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Description:The Holy Spirit provides access to relationship with and reflection on the Triune God. In West Africa, Christians approach the Triune God in a way that challenges the Jewish-Christian memory. Deeply rooted in their ancestral memory, where living is relationality, they embrace the Trinitarian faith, the economy of the relational God-Christ-Spirit, by expanding and reinventing their indigenous experience of God, deities, spirits, and ancestors. Christian faith-practice is marked by the spectacular dominance of the Holy Spirit, whose charisms reflect the operations of deities. African Initiated Churches (AICs), Protestant and Catholic charismatic movements, experience God-Spirit''s liberating and healing hand for the enhancement and realization of communal and individual destiny (what one expects from a concerned providential deity). This book argues that the emergent West African Trinitarian imagination is in harmony with Hebrew insight into the One and Only Yahweh of the patriarchs that assumed the dimensions of Elohîm, God--experienced as a sound of sheer silence by Elijah, and proposed in utter weakness as the Only God by Deutero-Isaiah--the God that Jesus called Abba, Father. As Spirit and Life, the Holy Spirit, which is the source of all charisms (Origen), is our link to the Trinity. Endorsements:""Uzukwu has provided us with a groundbreaking overview of a theological anthropology from engagement with West African religious traditions. This insightful and creative text will stretch and transform traditional concepts and claims of Western theological thought. Reading Uzukwu''s work opens up the rich and largely untapped treasures of African religious experience.""--George WorgulChair, Department of Theology, Duquesne University, PittsburghAbout the Contributor(s):Elochukwu Uzukwu C.S.Sp. is Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA. He is the editor of Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology, and author of Liturgy, Truly Christian, Truly African (1982); A Listening Church: Autonomy and Communion in African Churches (1996; 2006); Worship as Body Language: Introduction to Christian Worship, an African Orientation (1997).

Description:This book articulates a contextual pneumatology from a perspective of the Eastern idea of ch''i (ki in Korean). Rather than understanding the Spirit from a Westernized philosophical perspective, this book utilizes East Asian categories rooted in the I Ching and Asian religions in dialogue with such prominent Western theologians as Barth, Pannenberg, Moltmann and Harvey Cox. The result is an exciting interaction between the Bible, traditions of the West, and experiences of the Spirit rooted in East Asia. Yun argues that the formal dimension of the Spirit (sangjeok) is present and active in all cultures and religions while the material dimension of the Spirit (muljeok) is categorically revealed and embodied through the life of Jesus Christ, the event of Pentecost, and Charisms given to the church. In making his case, he mediates a creative balance between countercultural and exclusivist models on the one hand, and pluralistic and anthropocentric models on the other. Endorsements:""Koo Dong Yun''s work is simply brilliant and beautiful! It is written by an author who accurately knows both Western and Eastern theology and philosophy. I applaud it sincerely. Yun''s work escaped many perils of ''post-colonial'' theology and has opened a promising new way to move ahead with a genuinely Korean Christian theological vision. This is an authentic contextual theology rooted in the East Asian soil. Instead of trying to write something ''universal'' and ''totalitarian'' that stands against the post-modern era, Yun has created something that is really ''chiological'' and original. If I teach my seminar here on Asian theology or Pentecostalism again, I will surely make use of this book.""-Harvey CoxHollis Research Professor of DivinityHarvard University""Although numbers of different kinds of ''contextual'' approaches to the theology of the Holy Spirit are emerging at the beginning of the third millennium, Professor Koo D. Yun''s constructive ''chiological'' pneumatology stands out as distinctive and has the capacity to give leadership and inspiration to many such explorations to come. In this highly creative and constructive work, ancient and contemporary Chinese, Korean, and other East Asian philosophico-religious resources are put into a mutual dialogue with biblical, historical, and systematic Christian theological voices. The end result is a feast of theological, philosophical, and religious insights highlighting the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit through the lens of Ch''i and related Asian ways of conceiving the ''divine spirit/essence.''""-Veli-Matti KärkkäinenProfessor of Systematic TheologyFuller Theological Seminary""Constructing a transcultural theology of the third article based on the Spirit and Ch''i (Qi), Dr. Yun''s book is a truly astonishing and groundbreaking work, which will establish him as one of his generation''s leading Asian theologians. Dr. Yun paves a new way toward hermeneutically configuring an intersection of the Holy Spirit in Judeo-Christian tradition with East Asian philosophy of Taoism and Confucianism through his astute interpretation and extensive knowledge. This book is an original, creative, and extraordinary attempt to conceptualize a new pneumatology in intercultural studies of the Spirit in parallel with my construction of irregular-minjung theology. This is the first full monograph dealing solely with the Holy Spirit and Ch''i written in English by an author who accurately grasps three horizons: 1) the Bible, 2) traditional Western theologies (especially in regard to Karl Barth and Wolfhart Pannenberg), and 3) East Asian philosophy of Ch''i in classic Taoism and Confucianism. Finally, the contextual, irregular pneumatology rooted in the East Asian soil for which we have been waiting with excitement has emerged in this book.""-Paul S. ChungAssociate Professor of Mission and World ChristianityLuther Seminary""Professor Yun''s book represents a groundbreaking work in the study of pneumatology.

Description:Creating Women''s Theology engages women''s questions:ΓÇó Can women from different religious traditions engage one theological approach?ΓÇó Can one philosophical approach support feminist religious thought?ΓÇó What kind of belief follows women''s criticism of traditional Christianity?Creating Women''s Theology offers a portrait of how some women have found room for faith and feminism. For the last twenty-five years, women religion scholars have synthesized process philosophy with their feminist sensibilities and faith commitments to highlight the value of experience, the importance of freedom, and the interdependence of humanity, God, and all creation. Cutting across cultural and religious traditions, process relational feminist thought represents a theology that women have created. This volume offers an introduction to process and feminist theologies before presenting selections from canonical works in the field with study questions. This volume includes voices from Christianity, Judaism, goddess religion, the Black church, and indigenous religions. Creating Women''s Theology invites new generations of undergraduate, seminary, and university graduate students to the methods and insights of process relational feminist theology. Endorsements:""Fifty years ago Valerie Saivings noted the congeniality between the process critique of the philosophical and theological tradition and the insights of Christian women. This remarkable volume shows how the work of women process theologians and of feminists and womanists who found process categories useful together constitute a single richly textured movement. From the perspective of this male process theologian, this movement is today the most promising expression of process theology. Indeed, I view it as embodying the cutting edge of Christian theology as a whole.""--John B. Cobb Jr.Claremont Graduate School and Claremont School of Theology""Creating Women''s Theology is an important contribution to the literature. It offers a good summary of the relation to feminism and process theology. It also delves into some basic questions about the universality of feminist approaches to theology in different religious traditions. This book will be a helpful introduction for courses in feminist theology.""--Rosemary Radford RuetherClaremont Graduate University""In its relational structure and transtemporal movement, this book works like a society of occasions in process should! It is a beautifully aimed series of reflective events, displaying the transgenerational trajectories of the feminist and womanist process theologies as they have been massively but often indirectly unfolding. By making this movement within a movement so becomingly readable and so dialogically explicit, by highlighting its intersections with other movements and its internal differences, it will lure yet another generation of thinkers into a vital conversation.""--Catherine KellerDrew University Theological SchoolAbout the Contributor(s):Monica A. Coleman is Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religions and Co-Director of the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology and Associate Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. She is the author of The Dinah Project: A Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence (2004) and Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology (2008).Nancy R. Howell is Professor of Theology and Philosophy of Religion and Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. She is author of A Feminist Cosmology: Ecology, Solidarity, and Metaphysics (2000).Helene Tallon Russell is Associate Professor of Theology at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is author of Irigaray and Kierkegaard: On the Construction of the Self (2009).

Description:Today, many evangelicals in the Russian-speaking world emphasize sanctification as a distinctive mark of their Christian faith. This is a unique characteristic, particularly in the European context. Their historic tapestry has been woven from a number of threads that originated in the second half of the nineteenth century. Missionary efforts of the German Baptists, a revival sparked by a British evangelist, and a pietistic awakening among the Mennonites in the South converged to form a tapestry that displays Protestant, Baptist, and Anabaptist heritage. Ivan Kargel uniquely participated in the formation and ministry of each of these threads. His life spans from Tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union. Kargel refused to adhere to a systematic view of theology. Instead, he urged believers to go to Scripture and draw from the riches of a life united with Christ. Kargel''s influence today is keenly felt across the Russian-speaking evangelical world as they seek to identify the roots of their spiritual identity. This book examines the influences on Ivan Kargel and offers insights into how his life and work are expressed in the tapestry of Russian evangelical spirituality.Endorsements:""The work not only provides an excellent biographical narrative of Ivan V. Kargel, an elusive yet seminal figure in the development of evangelical spirituality in Russia, but also a careful study of his theological thought. The work''s comprehensive grasp of the evangelical movement as a whole, its meticulous use of sources in three languages, and its setting in the context of the times represent scholarship at its best.""-Albert W. Wardin Jr.Belmont University ""Ivan Kargel was the most important spiritual writer in the early years of the evangelical Christians-Baptists in Russia and Ukraine. Using previously neglected primary sources, Gregory Nichols has examined the variety of influences that formed Kargel''s spirituality, showing in particular the significance of Keswick holiness teaching for this greatly respected author.""-David BebbingtonUniversity of Stirling""Gregory Nichols''s careful probing of the developing spirituality and theology of Ivan V. Kargel, who was both German and Russian, is an important contribution from an American historian-theologian who has earned the right to be heard. It will help shape thinking and discussion . . . Nichols''s book earns him a respected place in ongoing theological conversations among current east European evangelical theologians.-Walter SawatskyCo-editor of Religion in Eastern Europe""Gregory L. Nichols has made a major contribution to our understanding of the theological development of evangelical faith in Russia . . . Thanks to this carefully wrought work we have the clearest explanation to date for the unique blend of holiness, pietistic, and Anabaptist strains in Russian evangelicalism.""-Mark R. ElliottAsbury SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):Gregory L. Nichols is Lecturer of Baptist and Anabaptist Studies and Church History at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic. He also lectured for several years at the Odessa Theological Seminary in Odessa, Ukraine.

Description:If Schillebeeckx had been Asian, how would he have responded to the phenomenon of religious pluralism? This book attempts to answer that question, beginning with a dialogue with the Vatican Declaration Dominus Iesus and discerning how Schillebeeckx''s methodology has been applied in Asian theology. Employing the hermeneutical-critical method, Schillebeeckx asserts that the Word of God did not come ""down to us, as it were, vertically in a purely divine statement""--it must be interpreted! In today''s context of so many religions, so many cultures, and so many poor, God''s Word invites the church to be a ""sacrament of dialogue."" Through dialogue the church will be ""challenged by other religions and challenge them in return."" Christianity will then be ""put in its place, as well as given the place which is its due.""Endorsements:""A frank and articulate commentary on Dominus Iesus, this volume offers reflections on the respectful and authentic relationship between the Catholic Church and other religious traditions. . . . What is intriguing is not only that it deals with the greatest theological conundrum of our time, but also explores how Western and Asian theologies can be bridged, mindful of the aspirations of the wronged of this world.""--Bahar DavaryAssociate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San DiegoAuthor of Women and the Qur''an""Combining the theology of Schillebeeckx and the experience of religious diversity of the Asian churches, Chia takes on the ''600-pound gorilla'' that stalks all Catholic conversations about interreligious dialogue: the tensions between official Vatican pronouncements such as Dominus Iesus and the views of communities and theologians. Chia''s final proposal for an ''Asian theology of dialogue'' opens a way forward.""--Paul F. KnitterPaul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions, and Culture, Union Theological SeminaryAuthor of Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian""Edmund Chia puts us all, especially Asian theologians, in his debt with this scholarly analysis of the thought of one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century. Chia brilliantly succeeds in extending Schillebeeckx''s insights into the challenging field of cultural and interreligious dialogue. In this way he builds a bridge between Western and Asian theologies, long kept apart, or worse, with the former dominating the latter. Chia''s work is proof that Asian theology has come of age.""--Peter C. PhanEllacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown UniversityAuthor of Being Religious InterreligiouslyAbout the Contributor(s):Edmund Chia is a Malaysian who served from 1996 to 2004 as Executive Secretary of Interreligious Dialogue for the Federation of Asian Bishops'' Conferences. He then joined Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he last served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Doctrinal Studies Department. Since 2011 he has been on the faculty of the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. He holds an MA in human development, an MA in religion from the United States, and a PhD in intercultural theology from the Netherlands. Fr. Schillebeeckx witnessed his doctoral defense.

Description:Why do many U.S. residents, Catholics and Catholic leaders among them, too often fall short of adequately challenging the use of violence in U.S. policy? The opportunities and developments in approaches to peacemaking have been growing at a significant rate. However, violent methods continue to hold significant sway in U.S. policy and society as the commonly assumed way to ""peace."" Even when community organizers, policymakers, members of Catholic leadership, and academics sincerely search for alternatives to violence, they too often think about nonviolence as primarily a rule or a strategy. Catholic Social Teaching has been moving toward transcending the limits of these approaches, but it still has significant room for growth. In order to contribute to this growth and to impact U.S. policy, McCarthy draws on Jesus, Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan, and King to offer a virtue-based approach to nonviolent peacemaking with a corresponding set of core practices. This approach is also set in conversation with aspects of human rights discourse to increase its possible impact on U.S. policy. As a whole, Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers offers an important challenge to contemporary accounts of peacemaking in the U.S.Endorsements:""Many believe, myself among them, the world must change its violent course if humanity is to survive and go forward. The opposite of violence, and its cure, is nonviolence; but the term is still shrouded in confusion. This well-researched book does a masterful job making nonviolence--arguably the most important principle we can learn--available to millions of readers.""--Michael Nagler, Professor Emeritus, University of California Berkeley ""Using the time-tested virtue approach to ethics, McCarthy helps us cultivate the dispositions, practices, and rules needed for nonviolent peace-building. But then, with virtue''s ability to culturally adapt, he engages Hindu, Christian, and Muslim models, and proposes a contemporary, realistic vision. He translates this vision into the language of human rights so as to give it even more universal appeal. The result is an interreligious, comprehensive project of a new world order. A truly timely and engaging work!""--James F. Keenan, Boston College""This is an excellent book. It is highly original and intellectually precise, while remaining grounded in the Christian life and passion for social change. McCarthy cuts across standard divisions of just war theory and pacifism to create a public and political peacemaking ethic of virtue for an era in which Christian action for global justice is not optional.""--Lisa Cahill, Boston College""McCarthy''s deep discussion of the challenges of nonviolent peacemaking should be essential reading for all would-be peacemakers and, more especially, for all those who still see lethal force as the answer to international problems.""--Alan Goulty, Former British Ambassador to SudanAbout the Contributor(s):Eli Sasaran McCarthy is Adjunct Professor of Justice and Peace Studies at Georgetown University. He has published an essay in Peace Movements Worldwide, along with articles in the Peace Studies Journal and the Journal of Political Theology.

Description:Divine healing is commonly practiced today throughout Christendom and plays a significant part in the advance of Christianity in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Such wide acceptance of the doctrine within Protestantism did not come without hesitation or controversy. The prevailing view saw suffering as a divine chastening designed for growth in personal holiness, and something to be faced with submission and endurance. It was not until the nineteenth century that this understanding began to be seriously questioned. This book details those individuals and movements that proved radical enough in their theology and practice to play a part in overturning mainstream opinion on suffering. James Robinson opens up a treasury of largely unknown or forgotten material that extends our understanding of Victorian Christianity and the precursors to the Pentecostal revival that helped shape Christianity in the twentieth century.Endorsements:""With interest in international Pentecostalism growing exponentially, the time is just right for James Robinson''s carefully researched and wide-ranging investigation of its roots among the diverse healing and holiness traditions of the nineteenth century.""-David HemptonHarvard Divinity School""This new study opens up vistas that enable us to see twentieth-century enthusiasm with new eyes: the revivals of Azusa Street in California, the excitation in the Celtic fringes of Britain, and the growing acceptance in Britain that the God of the bible could still heal had its roots in movements from the beginning of the nineteenth century, many of which have been neglected, marginalized, or forgotten. James Robinson, in this excellent book, traces their origins and influence. Theologically and sociologically they are a mixed bag, but this makes them more interesting and sometimes surprising.""-Andrew WalkerKing''s College, University of London""James Robinson''s history of nineteenth-century divine healing movements is a welcome addition to what has become a burgeoning field of study. A special virtue of this book is Robinson''s close attention to the role of Britain and continental Europe in transatlantic developments. Robinson both builds effectively on previous scholarship and provides greater depth, plumbing rich archival resources to provide new insight into how personal experience informed the theologies of healing evangelists.""-Candy Gunther BrownIndiana University""James Robinson has portrayed the nineteenth-century Healing Movement vividly in this well-documented study, particularly paying attention to the movement in Europe and the links to later Pentecostalism. Few works on this subject have been as comprehensive, and this one will stand as a standard reference for years to come.""-Allan AndersonUniversity of Birmingham, United KingdomAbout the Contributor(s):James Robinson was awarded his doctorate, from Queen''s University Belfast. He is the author of Pentecostal Origins: Early Pentecostalism in Ireland in the Context of the British Isles (2005).

Description:This book uses insights from a modern theory of communication, Relevance Theory, to examine the function of the particle i(/na [SET IN SpIonic] in New Testament Greek. It claims that the particle does not have a lexical meaning of ""in order that,"" contrary to accepted wisdom, but that it alerts the reader to expect an interpretation of the thought or attitude of the implied speaker or author. Evidence is adduced from pagan Greek and in particular the writings of Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Epictetus, as well as the New Testament. The implications of this claim give an opportunity for a fresh interpretation of many problematic texts.Endorsements:""This timely and fascinating study is of interest, not only to biblical scholars, but also to those interested in linguistic theory. Margaret Sim''s original study of the ''purpose'' marker i3na utilises the notion of metarepresentation, familiar from Relevance Theory, to provide new insight into the interpretation of certain key texts in the Gospels. In so doing, she shows how the ideas of theoretical pragmatics can be brought to bear on the study of other fields to enable new and exciting perspectives to be opened up on difficult problems of translation and interpretation.""Ronnie Cann, University of Edinburgh""A model dissertation accounting for an important, long-ignored question. Literary and non-literary extra-biblical sources have been considered and the perspective is diachronic, distinguishing earlier and later usage from that of the New Testament. It is grounded in linguistic theory but free of jargon and intelligible to those not trained in Linguistics.""Carl W. Conrad, Washington University, St. Louis, MissouriThis is a major, innovative thesis in which insights from linguistic study (Relevance Theory) are used to free our understanding of the Greek particle i3na from the shackles of a fixed lexical meaning to one that is based on the communicator''s intention, thus widening its scope from the traditional translation as ''in order that'' (purpose). The implications of this carefully argued monograph for the interpretation of theological texts in the New Testament, especially those that are generally assumed to deal with divine purposes, are highly significant.""I. Howard Marshall, University of Aberdeen""Dr. Margaret Sim has an excellent solution to the problem that one Greek word can introduce very different clauses--expressing purpose or result, but also requests wishes and opinions. Using Relevance Theory from linguistics, and well aware of the long history of the Greek language, she infers that we do not have a word with one meaning which has been ''weakened,'' but rather a word whose function is to signal a thought about a state of affairs which is potential rather than actual. Drawing examples from wider Hellenistic Greek, and from our own use of language, she throws a flood of light on difficult biblical passages.""David Mealand, University of EdinburghAbout the Contributor(s):Margaret G. Sim is an International Translation Consultant with SIL and has been lecturing in New Testament at Africa International University since 1992.

Description:"". . . that you may become partakers in the divine nature"" 2 Peter 1:4""The theme of deification intimately touches on human identity and the actualization of humanity''s ultimate purpose. It is predominantly an anthropological and soteriological expression of Christian theology. At the same time, it testifies to the identity of a Christian God, divine universal design, and God''s economy, where the trinitarian and christological apprehension receives the central place. Theosis, both on an individual and cosmic scale, is not exiguous in its eschatological perspective, either. The testimony of theosis is testimony to the inexplicable mystery of divine intimacy. Deification penetrates all spheres of human existence, and can be seen as an answer to most pending ultimate questions. It is essentially practical in its manifestation and uplifting in its content, but nevertheless, always evasive and arcane in its comprehension.""From the IntroductionThis book contains biblical and historical-theological essays that offer innovative approaches to the issue of theosis. The interconnections between the theology of deification and the doctrines of the Trinity, Christology, anthropology, protology, hamartiology, soteriology, and eschatology are made manifest in these fascinating new studies. It is aimed both at those who are already students of theosis and at those who are looking for an introductory text. It also contains a comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography for those seeking further resources on the theme.Endorsements:""Theosis is back, and it is here to stay--no longer as the focus solely of one stream of the Christian tradition, but as a fully biblical and ecumenical account of salvation. Vladimir Kharlamov, with his colleagues, offers us another volume of significant essays on theosis/deification in the Christian tradition, from the evangelists to contemporary Baptists. They add to the burgeoning literature on the central reality of Christian faith: transformative participation in the very life of the Triune God.""--Michael J. GormanThe Ecumenical Institute of Theology, St. Mary''s Seminary & University, Baltimore, MD""Vladimir Kharlamov has successfully gathered a lively collection of studies covering foundational aspects of the ancient concept of theosis. The chapters range from the teachings of Jesus and the Fathers, to contemporary attempts to appropriate the notion today (its relevance to the Reformed tradition, its importance to Christian ecology). The book is an exciting example of the energy that still exists in putting the ancient tradition in discussion with the pressing concerns of the world.""--V.Revd. Dr. John A. McGuckinNielsen Professor of Ancient & Byzantine Christian HistoryUnion Theological Seminary, New York""Vladimir Kharlamov has assembled a rich and remarkable volume that will offer profound gifts to the church''s theological reflection. Whether one is already a student of the doctrine of theosis or is seeking an introduction to its riches, s/he will do well to take this volume and read it carefully."" --Philip E. ThompsonProfessor of Systematic Theology and Christian HeritageSioux Falls Seminary, Sioux Falls, South Dakota""A well-researched,  carefully edited, and welcomed volume on the amazing, engaging, enduring, bold, and bewildering notions of deifying grace in Scripture, historical theology, ecumenical discussion, and contemporary reflection.Vladimir Kharlamov, as editor, expertly navigates students of Scripture and seasoned scholars through the complexities of theosis, from East to West, from historical to contemporary contexts, and succeeds in connecting esoteric ideas, Eastern Orthodox spirituality, and Baptist theologies in one volume.""Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D, co-editor of Partakers of the Divine Nature: Deification in the Christian Traditions, and Affiliate Associate Professor of Theology at Drew University.About the Contributor(s):Vladimir Khar

Description:Much of the emerging Protestantism of the sixteenth century produced a Reformation in conscious opposition to formal philosophy. Nevertheless, sectors of the Reformation produced a spiritualizing form of Platonism in the drive for correct devotion. Out of an understandable fear of idolatry or displacement of the uniquely redemptive place of Christ, Christian piety moved away from the senses and the material world--freshly uncovered in the Reformation.This volume argues, however, that in the quest for restoring ""true religion,"" sectors of the Protestant tradition impugned too severely the material components of prior Christian devotion.Larry Harwood argues that a similar spiritualizing tendency can be found in other Christian traditions, but that its applicability to the particulars of the Christian religion is nevertheless questionable. Moreover, in that quest of a spiritualizing Protestant ""true religion,"" the Christian God could shade toward the conceptual god of the philosophers, with devotees construed as rationalist philosophers. Part of the paradoxical result was to propel the Protestant devotee toward a denuded worship for material worshipers of the Christian God who became flesh.About the Contributor(s):Larry D. Harwood is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Viterbo University in Wisconsin and has authored numerous articles and a few short stories. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Lisbon in Portugal in 2008 and is presently at work on a book on Bertrand Russell and religion.

About the Contributor(s):Maura Hearden, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Theology at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. She is the author of several articles on Mary.Virginia Kimball, STD, is an online theology professor at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is president of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary USA.

Description:They Who Give from Evil: The Response of the Eastern Church to Moneylending in the Early Christian Era considers St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa''s fourth-century sermons against usury. Both brothers were concerned with the economic and theological implications of destructive and corrosive practices of lending at high rates of interest and implications for both on the community and the individual soul of lender and debtor. Analysis of their sermons is placed within the context of early Greek Christian responses to lending and borrowing, which were informed by Jewish, Greek, and Roman attitudes toward debt.Endorsements:""Focusing on the Greek patristic tradition, Ihssen shows how a millennium of reflection on the problem of usury, codified in ancient Greek philosophy, the Hebrew Scriptures, Roman law, and the New Testament, was used to elaborate a nuanced and consistently critical attitude towards the practice of taking interest on a loan, culminating in the brilliant writings of Gregory of Nyssa. Witty and engaging, this book will interest a wide readership.""--T. Allan Smith, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies""Ihssen''s patient study describes Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa''s teachings on usury against the backdrop of the ancient world, of biblical teaching, and of other Christian voices in late antiquity. The result is a book that is both timely in its warnings against economic injustice, and illuminating in its elucidation of early Christian teachings on usury. Most importantly, Ihssen shows that Nyssa''s approach to usury has its own unique emphases.""--Hans Boersma, Regent College""They Who Give from Evil attempts something quite bold: to ask the modern world to rethink its passive acceptance of buying and selling interest-earning loans with the moral and ethical insights of two writers who died sixteen centuries ago. . . . By the end, readers will have enjoyed learning something about moneylending in late antiquity as much as they will have enjoyed Ihssen''s subtle questioning of ourselves.""--Brian Matz, Carroll College""Loans and debts have a timeless power to foster shame, moral silence, and dehumanizing injustices that cripple individuals, societies, and nation-states. Ihssen''s welcomed scholarly overview of early Greek and Christian voices about this ''evil gift'' tells stories that are painfully familiar even today. Her book will appeal to anyone interested in the problem of poverty and ethical responses to economic rights.""--Susan R. Holman, Harvard School of Public HealthAbout the Contributor(s):Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Pacific Lutheran University, where she teaches courses in the early and medieval history of Christianity and Islam, and Eastern Orthodox theology.

Description:This book is about leadership, a scholarly and pastoral response to the urgent demand for the renewal of the contemporary Christian church. It challenges readers to articulate the identity and vision of the church in new ways, and encourages them to revitalize their ministry with fresh insight and passion from women''s perspectives. The eight essays written by female scholars in relation to various areas of theological study and the nine pastoral responses to the essays written by ministers from seven different denominations, based on their experiences of actual ministerial settings, provide new paradigms of church leadership--theologically profound, practically relevant, and historically timely. This volume, a product of a collaborative process between academia and church, promises to be a most useful resource to renew the leadership of the church and its vocational commitment to the transformation of the church and society.Endorsements:""This is a book befitting the pioneering scholar and leader it honors. These essays advance the essential conversations required for contemporary church leadership with scholarly integrity and pastoral sensitivity.""--Lovett H. Weems Jr.Professor of Church Leadership and Director of the Lewis Center for Church LeadershipWesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC""In anxious and disorienting times, these essays provide refreshing and bold paradigms for the future leadership of the church. As befits the honoring of Jean Miller Schmidt, this is a clarion call that pulls us deeply into the leadership of God, that honors the fruit of our heritage, that focuses on the edifying experience of women and others whose witness has been marginalized as a way to the future. This volume is filled with grace, confidence, and vibrant hope.""--Rev. Dr. Mark A. FowlerMurray H. Leiffer Associate Professor of Congregational LeadershipExecutive Director of the Institute for Transformative Leaders & CommunitiesGarrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois""This volume is a welcome and much-needed addition to our discussion of church leadership, which is too often dominated by a single perspective. Eunjoo Mary Kim and Deborah Beth Creamer have collected a rich variety of voices who examine new experiences and paths of leadership, yet at the same time keep us grounded in faith and tradition. This book will be widely used and discussed in classrooms, churches, and denominational offices.""--Deborah J. KappEdward F. and Phyllis K. Campbell Associate Professor of Urban MinistryMcCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, IllinoisAbout the Contributor(s):Eunjoo Mary Kim is Professor of Homiletics at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. She is the author of Preaching the Presence of God (1999), Women Preaching (2004), and Preaching in an Age of Globalization (2010).Deborah Beth Creamer is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of Library and Information Services at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. She is the author of Disability and Christian Theology: Embodied Limits and Constructive Possibilities (2009).

Description:Text, Theology, and Trowel consists of ten essays on the understanding and reception of the Hebrew Bible in Judaism and Christianity. Textual exegesis, historical contexts, and modern reception of the Hebrew text are placed side by side to encourage interdisciplinary study. Two theologically minded essays are included to help overcome the biblical studies/theology dichotomy. By placing such divergent approaches together, this volume will help expand ways of thinking about the Bible and its cognate fields.Endorsements:""This collection of articles by promising young scholars in the field of Religious Studies, especially Biblical Studies, indicates that interdisciplinary research combining theology with literary studies, archaeology, and historical and sociological research is leading into new directions and opening up new fields of enquiry.""-Catherine Hezser, SOAS, University of LondonAbout the Contributor(s):Lidia D. Matassa has a number of previous publications on the archaeology of synagogues, including several articles in Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jason M. Silverman is the editor of the collection, A Land Like Your Own (Pickwick Publications, 2010).

Description:How did a first-generation Jewish messianic movement develop the momentum to become a dominant religious force in the Western world? The essays here first investigate the roots of God''s mission and the mission of his people in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism, specifically in the Psalms, Isaiah, and Daniel. The contributions then discuss the mission of Jesus, and how it continued into the mission of the Twelve, other Jewish believers (in the Gospels, General Epistles, and Revelation), and finally into Paul''s ministry to the Gentiles documented in the book of Acts and his epistles. These essays reach backward into the background of what was to become the Christian mission and forward through the New Testament to the continuing Christian mission and missions today. Endorsements:""For too long now biblical scholarship and missiology have been progressing in splendid isolation with little reference to each other. This sparkling collection of essays not only demonstrates the interdependence of these disciplines but also takes seriously the Hebrew Scriptures and Second Temple Judaism as fertile soil in which the seeds for Christian mission were sown, came to flower in the New Testament, and continue to bear fruit in the ongoing global mission of the church at the beginning of the twenty-first century.""--Trevor J. Burkeauthor of Adopted into God''s Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor""Biblical scholars and missiologists have much to learn from each other. This work, with contributions from notable scholars, offers some fresh biblical insights for thinking about Christian mission.""--Craig Keenerauthor of Romans: A New Covenant Commentary (Cascade 2009)""We have needed a work that presents the development of Mission from Israel to the early church. These essays, written by leading scholars in both fields, admirably accomplish that goal. Here is a work that covers the field, presents missional roots as well as strategy, is very readable, and would serve as a fine textbook both for courses and personal study. I highly recommend this book.""--Grant Osborneauthor of The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical InterpretationAbout the Contributor(s):Stanley E. Porter is President, Dean, and Professor of New Testament, at McMaster Divinity College. He has published extensively in the area of New Testament and Greek language and linguistics, including New Testament Greek Papyri and Parchments (with Wendy Porter, 2008).Cynthia Long Westfall is Assistant Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College. She is the author of A Discourse Analysis of Hebrews (2006).

Description:When the New Testament was read publicly, what effect did the performances have on the audience? In Delivering from Memory, William Shiell argues that these performances shaped early Christian paideia among communities of active, engaged listeners. Using Greco-Roman rhetorical conventions, Shiell''s groundbreaking study suggests that lectors delivered from memory without memorizing the text verbatim and audiences listened with their memories in a collaborative process with the performer. The text functioned as a starting place for emotion, paraphrase, correction, and instruction. In the process, the performances trained and shaped the character of the reader and the formation of the audience. The lector''s performance functioned as a mirror for the audience to examine themselves as children of God. These conventions shaped the ways lectors performed Jesus. Just as the New Testament reflects many titles for Jesus, so the canonical form of the Gospels offers many ways Jesus was performed in the ancient world. By interpreting through the eyes of performance, we join a conversation that has existed since the formative stages of the Christian movement. By performing with the ancient audience, we shape the character of reader and audience through the emotions, rhetorical figures, and memories in the text. We raise new questions about audiences in the ancient world and interpret stories through the ears of performance.Endorsements:""Drawing on ancient rhetorical criticism and the emerging field of performance criticism, Shiell uses the Greco-Roman rhetorical convention of memory to explicate the relationship between performer and audience in the hermeneutical process of performing and hearing sacred texts. This book simply sparkles with gems from the rhetorical handbooks that illuminate the ways in which performance of Christian texts instructed, informed, and formed (what Shiell calls paideia) the identity of early Christian audiences as followers of Christ . . . This is a must-read book for scholars and preachers alike!""-Mikeal C. ParsonsProfessor and Macon Chair in ReligionBaylor University""Based on a wealth of information from ancient sources, William Shiell paints a fascinating picture of the early church as a predominantly oral culture--performers, audiences, and rhetorical impact. He argues persuasively that oral teaching from memory shaped the social identity and practices of early Christian communities. This book will transform your image of the early church and stimulate fresh possibilities for the church today. I commend this study to preachers, teachers, students, and scholars as a solid introduction to the oral ethos of early Christianity.""-David RhoadsEmeritus Professor of New TestamentLutheran School of Theology at ChicagoAbout the Contributor(s):William D. Shiell is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee. He is the author of Reading Acts: The Lector and the Early Christian Audience (2004) and Sessions with Matthew (2008).

Description:The subject of ""culture"" has provided theologians with a whole new realm of exploration. By the turn of the twentieth century and the beginning of this new milennium the subject of culture had presented itself to theologians and church leaders for vital consideration. As one of the world''s leading theologians, Robert Jenson''s eminent career has coincided with the pre-eminence of culture in theological and churchly discussion. Having described himself as a theologian of culture in his earliest works, culture continually informs Jenson''s systematic theology, which in turn works its way out in countless cultural forms. In Rhyming Hope and History we explore the philiosophical and theological influences of Jenson''s work and outline their vast and varied applications to the world of culture and the life of the church. For Jenson, the church is the cultural embodiment of the risen Christ in the fallen reality of our world. In a series of conversations between Jenson and leading thinkers, including G.W.F. Hegel, Jonathan Edwards, Wittgenstein, Richard H. Niebuhr, Kathryn Tanner, Paul Tillich, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Augustine, and Jeremy Begbie, we explore this creative and courageous proposal. Endorsements:""Robert Jenson is one of the most creative and interesting theologians to emerge in America in recent generations. In this fine study, Russell Rook offers important insights into his theology, and in particular, highlights the constant dialogue with American--and broader Western--culture that has been such a significant part of Jenson''s project. Rook writes with verve and with an easy mastery of the subject; this is a very good book on an important figure.""--Stephen R. HolmesSenior Lecturer in TheologyThe University of St. Andrews""Robert Jenson is a towering figure in contemporary theology, one who has made a signal contribution to understanding culture theologically rather than letting theology be determined by the cultural shibboleths of the day. Russell Rook provides the first systematic analysis of Jenson''s work and in the process makes an astute, lucidly written, and doctrinally rich contribution to broader debates about what it means to be the church in our Christ haunted and Christ forgetting cultural context.""--Luke BrethertonReader in Theology and PoliticsKing''s College LondonAbout the Contributor(s):Russell D. Rook is a member of The Salvation Army and was formerly the chair of Spring Harvest, one of Europe''s largest Christian conventions. A writer and teacher, Russell''s publications include: What Are We Waiting For? Reflections on Eschatology and Contemporary Culture (with Stephen Holmes) and Living Out Loud: Conversations in Virtue, Ethics and Evangelicalism with Stanley Hauerwas and Friends.

Description:Today the ""land of promise"" is a spark in the tinder dry atmosphere of Middle Eastern affairs. Events there continue to wield influence among peoples and in places well beyond the region itself. This raises for Christians the acute theological problem of how to relate to the ""land of promise"" today and in light of the land of the Bible. Our hope is that this volume of essays will contribute to a more informed and theologically coherent response to the ""Land of Promise."" It is offered here in the name of peace for all peoples in that place and among those who continue to look to her as a place of promise.Endorsements:""This volume is as important as its topic is serious. We must think clearly and Christianly about what the scriptures tell us concerning land, holy land, the modern Middle East, and biblical promise in a world that entertains enormous theological confusion. These able and provocative essays will offer us skilled guidance in territory few scholars are willing to enter.""-Gary M. BurgeWheaton College""I salute the brilliant scholarship, biblical integrity, and keen commitment to justice that emanates from every chapter of The Gospel and the Land of Promise. This book will be a valuable tool in the hands of laypersons, teachers, pastors, and scholars who seek to understand the political and theological realities in Israel/Palestine in the light of God''s word. From New Zealand, the farthest country from the land of promise, comes this dynamic voice of reason and compassion.""-Alex AwadBethlehem Bible College""In these excellent essays, Christian scholars in New Zealand--where indigenous land rights have long been at the center of public discourse--reflect on ''land'' in the Bible, and particularly the notion of a ''holy land'' or ''promised land'' in the Middle East. In the main, the book is a rejoinder to Christian Zionism. At the same time, it invites further reflection on the irreducible significance of place or landedness to human existence and Christian identity.""-Chris MarshallVictoria University of Wellington""The Christian world remains split down the middle on the issue of how to relate biblical teaching on the land to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here is a serious attempt by scholars of several different disciplines to wrestle with the question of how to read the Old Testament through the eyes of the New and in the light of the painful realities on the ground today. They have effectively thrown down to gauntlet to Dispensationalists and Christian Zionists of every kind: can they come up with equally detailed, heavy-weight scholarship to support their case?""-Colin Chapmanauthor of Whose Promised Land?""This is an immensely important work of biblical scholarship on the theology of the holy land . . . While Christian Zionists invariably see the coming of Jesus as the postponement of the land promises God made to Abraham, the authors demonstrate conclusively from the Scriptures that these promises were fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ.""-Stephen SizerChrist Church VicarageAbout the Contributor(s):Philip Church teaches biblical studies in the School of Theology, Laidlaw College, Auckland, NZ.Tim Bulkeley teaches Old Testament at Carey Baptist College, Auckland, NZ. He is the author of Amos: Hypertext Bible Commentary (2005).Tim Meadowcroft teaches Old Testament and is Head of the School of Theology, Mission, and Ministry, Laidlaw College, Auckland, NZ.and is the Dean of the Laidlaw-Carey Graduate School, Auckland, NZ. He is the author of Haggai (Readings: A New Biblical Commentary, 2006).Peter Walker is Associate Vice-Principal & Director of Development at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford, UK. He is the author of Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem (1996).

Description:A Land Like Your Own explores the ways the Bible has reused previous traditions and has subsequently been reused by both Jews and Christians. The ten essays included cover a broad range of topics in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and subsequent traditions, but they all highlight the many ways in which the traditions associated with Israel have impacted communities. A Land Like Your Own will interest anyone involved in biblical studies (students and scholars alike) through its wide-ranging array of topics, highlighting how interconnected the many biblical studies subdisciplines truly are.Endorsements:""This collection of essays originated in two conferences organized by graduate students of the School of Religions and Theology at Trinity College Dublin. Young scholars from Ireland, Britain, and the United States, working in the areas of Biblical and Near Eastern Studies, share their insights on a range of quite diverse topics. These have been skillfully brought together by the editors, employing the symbol of the ''Land'' as indicative of both loss and hope, reflective of the ways in which the past is variously figured and re-configured by the authors of both Testaments. They are to be congratulated for their initiative in organizing the conferences and applauded for making their deliberations accessible to a wider audience. This collection is a testimony to the ways in which modern Biblical Studies can stimulate new generations of scholars to engage with the Classic texts from the past in a manner that also reflects their own time and place.""--Sean FreyneProfessor of Theology, EmeritusTrinity College, DublinAbout the Contributor(s):Jason M. Silverman is completing his PhD at Trinity College Dublin and is the former chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Biblical World conference committee. He is the editor of the forthcoming book, Text, Theology, and Trowel.Amy Daughton is completing her PhD at Trinity College Dublin.

Endorsements:""Art West is in hot water in more ways than one in his latest adventure. After bathing in the famous thermal springs at Pamukkale, Turkey, the intrepid Bible scholar and archaeologist is invited to join an excavation at nearby Hierapolis. A papyrus related to Papias, the noted second-century bishop, has been discovered. However, demons unleashed by a cursed papyrus found in a menorah by Art''s friend, the antiquities dealer named Khalil, are poised to attack. A visit to the Plutonium proves to be a real gas for Art, who must now discover the diabolical forces seeking to kill him. Papias and the Mysterious Menorah is a worthy sequel in the Art West series.""--Mark WilsonAsia Minor Research CenterIzmir, Turkey""Each of Ben and Ann Witherington''s archaeological thrillers is more enthralling than the last. They deftly interweave the puzzles of the past with the complexities of the Middle East today.""--Richard BauckhamEmeritus Professor of New TestamentSt. Andrews University, Scotland ""Ever the pedagogues, Ben and Ann faithfully serve as highly informed, engaging, and deeply sensitive stewards of their narrative. Papias truly offers something for everyone.""--Brad JohnsonInstructor in Biblical LanguagesAsbury Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):Ben Witherington III is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University, and the author of over thirty-five books, including New York Times Best Seller The Brother of Jesus.Ann Witherington is Professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences at Asbury College. Ben and Ann have been married for over thirty years and have two adult children, Christy and David.

The role of witness is a recurring theme in the work of Stanley Hauerwas: it is through enacting the truth in a world of lies, through seeking peace in a world of violence, that witnesses show who God is, who we are, and what the world is like.The Necessity of Witness is a study of Hauerwas and his fascinating but complex understanding of witness. Ariaan W. Baan argues that Hauerwas''s approach makes a significant contribution to current debates in systematic theology on the relation between truth and life. Reading Hauerwas can be a precarious adventure. His rhetoric is overwhelming, but his argument is not always crystal clear and carefully formulated. With the help of semiotic and philosophical analysis and biblical exegesis, Baan articulates Hauerwas''s intuitions, fills some of the gaps in his argumentation, and discloses hidden biases. The results of this analysis sometimes surprise. Baan notes that unexpected pericopes in Scripture such as Isaiah and Revelation support Hauerwas''s account of witness, and concludes that his work offers insight into how in our late modern society such diverse groups as martyrs and pop stars offer implicit witness through their lives.""Ariaan Baan does a great service to the discourse of Public Theology by offering a systematic theological discussion of the views of Stanley Hauerwas on the Christian practice of witness. His book . . . sheds light on the quest to go public with Christian faith in pluralistic societies. And this entails, amongst others, that Christian engagement with public life does not imply that thicker theological convictions should be hid or left home.""--Nico Koopman, Professor of Christian Ethics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa""Ariaan Baan deftly navigates Stanley Hauerwas'' indirect theological method and identifies an illuminating and persistent theme for understanding his articulations of truth, Spirit, and Church--his account of Christian witness as a ''testimony of life.'' . . . Baan''s work makes a unique contribution to theology by developing a framework for examining and evaluating theological reflection on Christian witness.""--Benjamin Cooper, Professor of Discipleship and Mission, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, MI""This theologically reflected book uniquely presents ''the necessity witness'' as a crucial element of Christian practice and living. Ariaan Baan unfolds the rich biblical traditions of witness in its systematic contours . . . and the understanding of witness within the context of Stanley Hauerwas'' work, the most pointed guide for the theological tradition of ''witness.''""--Hans G. Ulrich, Professor of Systematic Theology, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, GermanyAriaan Baan studied theology at the Protestant Theological University of the Netherlands. In 2014 he successfully defended his doctoral thesis. He now works as a pastor of the Protestant Church in Zoutkamp and Scheemda, two villages in the northern part of the Netherlands.

What would the church look like if Christians saw their lives as constituted by the Spirit's presence to live as Jesus lived? In a time when being "led by the Spirit" is defined more by achieving the "American Dream" than by Jesus's life, answering this question rightly seems all the more critical for the church to survive in a culture increasingly hostile to Christianity. Building upon the work of post-Constantinians John Howard Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas and upon the Trinitarian Spirit-Christology of Leopoldo Sanchez, this account of the Christian life provides a framework for seeing one's Christian life as one transformed by the Spirit to live in the resurrection reality of Jesus's sonship with the Father in the Spirit. In the process, one will discover that, for Jesus, being led by the Spirit meant trusting his Father to the point of death on a cross, trusting God to resurrect him even if he did not save him. Should it mean the same for Christians today? If so, this would require the church to reimagine its ministries for the Spirit to work repentance and faith rather than simple agreement. For Christians living in the Spirit, their lives might look very different.

In Christ Died for Our Sins, Jarvis J. Williams argues a twofold thesis: First, that Paul in Romans presents Jesus' death as both a representation of, and a substitute for, Jews and Gentiles. Second, that the Jewish martyrological narratives in certain Second Temple Jewish texts are a background behind Paul's presentation of Jesus' death. By means of careful textual analysis, Williams argues that the Jewish martyrological narratives appropriated and applied Levitical cultic language and Isaianic language to the deaths of the Torah-observant Jewish martyrs in order to present their deaths as a representation, a substitution, and as Israel's Yom Kippur for non-Torah-observant Jews. Williams seeks to show that Paul appropriated and applied this same language and conceptuality in order to present Jesus' death as the death of a Torah-observant Jew serving as a representation, a substitution, and as the Yom Kippur for both Jews and Gentiles. Scholars working in the areas of Romans, Pauline theology, Second Temple Judaism, atonement in Paul, or early Christian origins will find much to stimulate and provoke in these pages.

The relationship between the church and Israel in Pauline interpretation has long been an area of considerable debate. The traditional view has understood Paul to identify the church with Israel, such that the church is the sole inheritor of Israel's sacred history, privileges, and divine promises. Yet recent developments in Pauline scholarship have called this view into question. The so-called New Perspective and its emphasis upon the decidedly Jewish context of Paul's theologizing, along with an increasing sensitivity to the post-Holocaust context of modern interpreters, have brought about readings that understand Paul to maintain a distinction between God's historical people, Israel, and the newly created multiethnic communities of Christ followers, that is, the church. Nevertheless, there are still scholars who, while embracing the New Perspective, have interpreted Paul as holding that the church is indeed identifiable in some way as Israel. This work explores a spectrum of scholarly views on the subject advanced between 1920 (as per the publication of C. H. Dodd's The Meaning of Paul for Today) and the present. Furthermore, it examines the most relevant Pauline texts upon which these views are founded, in dialogue with various readings of these texts that have been offered. Each view on Paul's understanding of the church vis-a-vis Israel is critically assessed in light of the exegetical findings. Using this approach Zoccali demonstrates that a view holding to both a certain distinction between, as well as an equating of, the church and Israel represents the most plausible interpretation of Paul's understanding.