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From 1807, when the first Protestant missionary arrived in China, to the 1920s, when a new phase of growth began, thousands of missionaries and Chinese Christians labored, often under very adverse conditions, to lay the groundwork for a solid, healthy, and self-sustaining Chinese church. Following an Introduction that sets the scene and surveys the entire period, Builders of the Chinese Church contains the stories of nine leading pioneers--seven missionaries and two Chinese. Here we meet Robert Morrison, the heroic translator; Liang Fa, the first Chinese evangelist; missionary-scholar James Legge; J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission; converted opium addict Pastor Hsi (""Overcomer of Demons""); Griffith John and Jonathan Goforth, both indefatigable preachers; and the idealistic advocates of education and reform, W. A. P. Martin and Timothy Richard. Readers will be inspired by their courage, devotion, and sheer perseverance in arduous work, and will gain an understanding of the roots of the two ""branches"" of today''s Chinese Protestantism.""A wonderful collection of excellent biographies of some most important figures in the history of China mission, written by the leading experts in the field.""--Kevin Xiyi Yao, Associate Professor of World Christianity and Asian Studies, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA""With so much attention paid to the explosive revival of Chinese Christianity today, G. Wright Doyle masterfully contributes a historical piece to the discussion, namely the ''Great Century of Missions'' in that nation. This edited collection highlights both indigenous and expatriate Christians, and both official and underground churches. It is a 1 Cor 3:6 type of book, showing that while many people have contributed various parts to the Christian enterprise, it was God who made it grow.""--Allen Yeh, Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies and Missiology, Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University, La Mirada, CAG. Wright Doyle is English editor of the online Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (bdcconline.net); coauthor of China: Ancient Culture, Modern Society; editor/cotranslator of Wise Man from the East: Lit-sen Chang (Zhang Lisheng); and editor of globalchinacenter.org and chinainst.org, which feature articles and book reviews about Chinese culture and religion, especially Christianity. His other works include Carl Henry: Theologian for All Seasons and Christianity in America: Triumph and Tragedy.

Perichoresis (mutual indwelling) is a concept used extensively in the so-called Trinitarian revival; and yet no book-length study in English exists probing how the term actually developed in the "classical period" of Christian doctrine and how it was carefully deployed in relation to Christian dogma. Consequently, perichoresis is often used in imprecise and even careless ways.This path-breaking study aims at placing our understanding of the term on firmer footing, clarifying its actual usage in relation to doctrines of God, Christ, and salvation in the thought of John of Damascus, the eighth-century theologian, monk, and hymn writer who gave it its historically influential application.Since John summed up a whole theological tradition, this work provides not only an introduction to his theological vision but also to the key themes of Greek patristic thought generally and thereby lays an essential foundation for those who would dig deeper into the present-day usefulness of perichoresis.

Eighty years ago, Walter Bauer promulgated a bold and provocative thesis about early Christianity. He argued that many forms of Christianity started the race, but one competitor pushed aside the others, until this powerful ""orthodox"" version won the day. The victors re-wrote history, marginalizing all other perspectives and silencing their voices, even though the alternatives possessed equal right to the title of normative Christianity. Bauer''s influence still casts a long shadow on early Christian scholarship. Were heretical movements the original forms of Christianity? Did the heretics outnumber the orthodox? Did orthodox heresiologists accurately portray their opponents? And more fundamentally, how can one make any objective distinction between ""heresy"" and ""orthodoxy""? Is such labeling merely the product of socially situated power? Did numerous, valid forms of Christianity exist without any validating norms of Christianity? This collection of essays, each written by a relevant authority, tackles such questions with scholarly acumen and careful attention to historical, cultural-geographical, and socio-rhetorical detail. Although recognizing the importance of Bauer''s critical insights, innovative methodologies, and fruitful suggestions, the contributors expose numerous claims of the Bauer thesis (in both original and recent manifestations) that fall short of the historical evidence.""Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts brings up to date a long-existing debate about those other gospels and early Christianity. Covering issues tied to the Apostolic Fathers, Irenaeus, Gnosticism, and the rule of faith, here is a solid compendium of essays that issues a significant challenge to the thesis of Walter Bauer--that orthodoxy emerged late from a largely sociological battle over the origin of the Jesus movement. It shows how orthodoxy''s roots are far older than claims of other options from the second century and beyond. This is simply profitable reading.""--Darrell L. Bock, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX""With worthy contributions from both New Testament and patristic scholars, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts offers a timely reappraisal and rebuttal of the ''Bauer thesis.'' The authors of this handy volume simultaneously sum up Bauer''s evidence and arguments, size up subsequent post-Bauer mutations of the thesis, and serve up a needed corrective from a variety of perspectives--a must-have for students of New Testament and early Christian studies.""--Michael J. Svigel, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX""Modern scholars continue to be entranced by Walter Bauer''s thesis that earliest Christianity was wildly diverse with no clear orthodoxy or heresy. Indeed, it is Bauer''s thesis that has provided the foundation for many of the modern attacks on the integrity of the Bible. Thus, I am thankful for this outstanding collection of essays aimed at refuting Bauer''s thesis and setting the record straight about what earliest Christianity was really like. With clarity and thoroughness, these essays sweep away the cloud of doubt raised by Bauer and shine fresh light on how Christianity developed in the earliest centuries.""--Michael J. Kruger, President, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NCPaul Anthony Hartog (PhD, Loyola University Chicago) is a Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at Faith Baptist Seminary. He is the author of Polycarp and the New Testament (2002) and Polycarp''s Epistle to the Philippians and the Martyrdom of Polycarp (2013), and he is the editor of The Contemporary Church and the Early Church: Case Studies in Ressourcement (Pickwick, 2010).

What happens to the church when the emperor becomes a Christian? Seventeen hundred years after Constantine's victory at Milvian Bridge, scholars and students of history continue to debate the life and impact of the Roman emperor who converted to faith in the Christian God and gave peace to the church. This book joins that conversation and examines afresh the historical sources that inform our picture of Constantine, the theological developments that occurred in the wake of his rise to power, and aspects of Constantine's legacy that have shaped church history.

At present the battle over who defines our future is being waged most publicly by secular and religious fundamentalists. Hope and the Longing for Utopia offers an alternative position, disclosing a conceptual path toward potential worlds that resist a limited view of human potential and the gift of religion. In addition to outlining the value of embracing unknown potentialities, these twelve interdisciplinary essays explore why it has become crucial that we commit to hoping for values that resist traditional ideological commitments. Contextualized by contemporary writing on utopia, and drawing from a wealth of times and cultures ranging from Calvin''s Geneva to early twentieth-century Japanese children''s stories to Hollywood cinema, these essays cumulatively disclose the fundamental importance of resisting tantalizing certainties while considering the importance of the unknown and unknowable. Beginning with a set of four essays outlining the importance of hope and utopia as diagnostic concepts, and following with four concrete examples, the collection ends with a set of essays that provide theological speculations on the need to embrace finitude and limitations in a world increasingly enframed by secularizing impulses. Overall, this book discloses how hope and utopia illuminate ways to think past simplified wishes for the future.""This is a strong and timely volume that, in its counter to the dystopic tendencies of the last hundred years, offers significant hope in breaking down the old (and ongoing) divisions between the religious and the secular and between our status in quo and our future longing.""--Andrew W. Hass, University of Stirling, Scotland""With so much reflection on the future wallowing in the sensationalistic ends of the spectrum from paralysis to rage, reading this collection of essays was an unexpected delight. They run the gamut from sober to joyful, but all of them serve the purpose of illuminating the coming future, and what is more, making me optimistic about participating in it if these folks will be my companions on the way.""--G. Michael Zbaraschuk, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WADaniel Boscaljon is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Iowa. He has doctorates in Religious Studies, focusing on secularism and modern religious thought, and in English, focusing on nineteenth-century American literature. He is the author of Vigilant Faith: Passionate Agnosticism in a Secular World (2013) and editor of Resisting the Place of Belonging (2013).

Description:Just as a churrasco is a Brazilian barbecue of a variety of meats, Churrasco skewers together an ebullient and eclectic assortment of theological texts from around the world to honor and celebrate one of Brazil''s most eclectic and creative theologians, Vítor Westhelle. Churrasco brings together different fields and disciplines, transgressing boundaries and allowing them to seep into each other. Though predominantly Lutheran, the authors hail from various denominations and contexts. Poised between in-depth doctrinal and practically reflective essays are poetically creative pieces. The contributions are exemplars of how to develop and foster language for God-talk and how to appropriate our God-talk in relationships with fellow human beings and with the environment. The topical range is wide and spans from the theology of the cross, to eschatology, postcolonialism, ecumenism, science and religion, the erotic, otherness, experience, literature, poetry, and the reformer Martin Luther. Unfettered by a common theme, the essays nevertheless connect and weave a tapestry; they raise key questions and they challenge theologians not only to rethink traditional concepts and contemporary views but also to reevaluate the task of theology itself.Endorsements:""These essays embody a many-limbed and luscious theology. It vibrates, stretches, sings, provokes, and caresses. I recommend it to thinkers concerned with space--postcolonial or ecological; with theopoetics in literature, Scripture, or doctrine; with grace under torment or in love; and even with Luther.""--Catherine Keller, Drew University""Westhelle''s writing, wisdom, and theological influence reverberate around the globe. This collection is a fitting invitation to join in the spirit of accompaniment that marks Westhelle''s work. I commend this feast of essays to anyone who wants . . . to enter the conversation on the ways God is working in the world.""--Robin Steinke, Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg""The nineteen contributions offered here . . . echo Westhelle''s vigilance to give voice to the voiceless and fearlessly shake the indifference of empires and the idols by which such powers seek legitimization. These essays expand on Westhelle''s paradoxical approach to faith and thus engage culture, science, and theology by means of a profound critique informed by Martin Luther''s theology.""--Mark Mattes, Grand View University""How do we celebrate a theologian who continually draws our gaze to the incarnate God who is constantly, unexpectedly revealed in the margins, fissures, and cracks? Quite simply: you invite together a spectrum of voices spanning context and theological disciplines, and watch as in concert they produce what no single voice can--namely, a witness to the good news that there is one Cross. And that it is plural.""--Neal J. Anthony, Lead Pastor, United Lutheran Church""These essays honoring Westhelle''s work arrest, trouble, and delight. They also point a way forward in uncharted terrain. From around the world and across the disciplines, these authors converge to offer new ways of visioning divine things (theoria), new patterns for living in a world marked by the scandal of the cross (praxis), and new language for witnessing to the ecstatic reality in a world where ''my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways'' (Isaiah 55:8).""--Martha E. Stortz, Augsburg CollegeAbout the Contributor(s):Mary Philip currently is staff at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and is adjunct faculty at Lewis University, but will soon move to take up the position of Assistant Professor for Lutheran Global Theology and Mission at Waterloo Seminary/Wilfrid Laurier University at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.John Arthur Nunes serves as the president and CEO of Lutheran World Relief (LWR), an international relief and development agency that works to end poverty, injustice, and human suffering worldwide. He is the author of Voices from the

A critical examination of political Zionism, a topic often considered taboo in the West, is long overdue. Moreover, the discussion of Christian Zionism is usually confined to Evangelical and fundamentalist settings. The present volume will break the silence currently reigning in many religious, political, and academic circles and, in so doing, will provoke and inspire a new, challenging conversation on theological and ethical issues arising from various aspects of Zionism--a conversation that is vital to the quest for a just peace in Israel and Palestine. The eight authors offer a rich diversity of religious faith, academic research, and practical experience, as they represent all three Abrahamic faiths and five different Christian traditions. Among the many themes that run through Zionism and the Quest for Justice in the Holy Land is the contrast between exclusivist narratives, both biblical and political, and the more inclusive narratives of the prophetic Scriptures, which provide the theological foundation and the moral imperative for human liberation. Readers will be drawn into a compelling, readable, and stimulating series of essays that tackle many of the complex issues that still confound clergy, politicians, diplomats, and academic experts.

Was Paul shaped by the movement that began with the teaching and activities of Jesus, or did he start something new? Attempts to answer this question one way or the other have a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The purpose of this book is to raise the question again in light of more recent scholarly work--especially in light of historical Jesus research and the so-called New Perspective on Paul.The strategy employed is to find family resemblances between Jesus and Paul on matters that are both fundamentally important and distinctive and that can best be explained in terms of Paul's dependence on Jesus. Three aspects of Jesus' ministry--his welcome of the marginalized, his challenge to his followers that they would share his fate, and his belief that God was doing something profoundly new--are presented as the source of three corresponding aspects in Paul's thought--his welcome of Gentiles, his language of participation, and his belief in the present reality of new creation.

In 1965, the Second Vatican Council formally issued a historic document titled Nostra Aetate (In Our Time). It was an attempt to frame the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish people. Never before had an ecumenical council attempted such a task. The landmark document issued by the Council and proclaimed by Pope Paul VI precipitated a Copernican revolution in Catholic-Jewish relations and started a process that has spread to the Protestant and Orthodox worlds as well. This volume, consisting of essays and reflections by Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Jewish scholars and theologians, by pastors and professors from the United States, Canada, Ireland, Great Britain, and Israel, is an evaluation of what Nostra Aetate has accomplished thus far and how Christian-Jewish relations must proceed in building bridges of respect, understanding, and trust between the faith groups.A Jubilee for All Times serves as a source of discussion, learning, and dialogue for scholars, students and intelligent laypersons who believe that we must create a positive relationship between Judaism and Christianity.

The aim of this thesis is to unfold the multilayered intersubjective experience of the author himself, a Chinese pastor. Samuel Ooi argues for a cultural-linguistic experience of shi as the locus at which the intersubjective experience takes place. To unfold this experience, the author identifies five key texts that are found in his intersubjective experience: Text A1: Shi; Text A2: Yizhuan; Text B1: Pauline notion of principalities and powers; Text B2: Pauline Texts I and II: Galatians and 1 Corinthians; and Text 0: Ooi's initial or seminal experience of shi. In dialogue with Michael Polanyi and Hans-Georg Gadamer, Ooi proposes that a double vision hermeneutic will help interpret the multilayered intersubjective relationships between texts and the subject. He argues that study of this intersubjective experience reveals a vital facet of Chinese Christian self, and significantly enhances the study of Chinese theology.