Bøker utgitt av SCM Press

If the church is ever tempted to think that it has its theology of grace sorted, it need only look at its reception of queer black bodies and it will see a very different story. In this honest, timely and provocative book, Jarel Robinson-Brown argues that there is deeper work to be done if the body of Christ is going to fully accept the bodies of those who are black and gay. A vital call to the Church and the world that Black, Queer, Christian lives matter, this book seeks to remind the Church of those who find themselves beyond its fellowship yet who directly suffer from the perpetual ecclesial terrorism of the Christian community through its speech and its silence.

This title provides a basic introduction to a variety of models of theological reflection and identifies their strengths and weaknesses, providing historical and contemporary examples of these models. It reflects the diversity of church and global traditions and the various approaches to theological reflection, and more.

Engaging with the Bible in a small group context has the potential to be transformative, but the picture is not without some complications. Key factors in determining whether a small group can be transformed through scripture include the use (or abuse) of 'experts', the opportunity for challenge in the group, and how study materials are used."Do Small Groups Work?" not only presents extensive research into these questions, with the potential to transform practice, but also offers a unique window into how practical theological research can productively encounter scripture.

Much of the conversation and concern of churches and of Christian individuals is centred around Christian discernment or knowing God's leading in decision-making. The language we use around these moments is fluid, and often feels inadequate - ask someone how they 'know' what God might be saying in a given situation and they may well reach for the phrase 'I just know'. In "How do you know it's God?", Lynn McChlery draws on ethnographic research amongst those in different kinds of 'discernment' processes, along with theological, spiritural and psychological insights to try and understand this phenomenon of 'insight' - or 'just knowing'.Challenging the perception that such intuition needs to be marginalised and removed from discernment conversations, McChlery suggests that instead intuition can and should be intentionally matured both individually and in communities; and that it can be verified, articulated and recorded in forms appropriate to its own mode of insight. It is a vital new contribution to the scholarship for all practical theologians researching ecclesiology, vocation, group dynamics in churches, and communal decision-making processes of any kind.

The experiences of infertility and childlessness, while not worse than other griefs and disappointments people experience, are nevertheless distinctive in a number of important respects. Unlike other griefs, they often take place in private, with no body, no funeral, and no public acknowledgement of the loss.In her profound and wise theology of childnessness, Emma Nash takes her own story as a starting point, examining several distinctive features of this painful human experience. She asks what biblical and theological resources offer consolation, and what liberative action individuals and churches might take to make an appropriate response.Weaving trauma theology together with personal experience, Nash offers a profound and heartfelt theological reflection which breaks the barriers between pastoral resource and carefully constructed theology.

A welcome supplement to the bestselling How to Read the OT and How to Read the NT, indicating more recent developments in biblical studies especially in the area of narrative criticism.

Descartes' "Meditations on First Philosophy", published in 1641, was designed for the philosopher and for the theologian. It consists of six meditations. Part of "SCM Briefly" series, this title seeks to serve as a support resource for students. It summarises the original text. It is intended for Philosophy Level One courses in the UK.

The SCM Studyguide to Anglicanism offers a comprehensive introduction to the many different facets of Anglicanism.Aimed at students preparing for ministry, it presumes no prior knowledge of the subject and offers helpful overviews of Anglican history, liturgy, theology, Canon Law, mission and global Anglicanism.As well as offering updated and improved lists of further reading, this second edition brings a greater emphasis on worldwide expressions of Anglicanism, with more examples taken from Asian and African contexts, and a brand new section which considers the rise of the global communion alongside issues of inculturation and indigenisation.

What do we need to learn and receive from the other to help us address challenges or wounds in our own tradition? That is the key question asked in what has come to be known as 'receptive ecumenism'. And nowhere is this question more pressing and pertinent than in women's experiences within the church.Based on qualitative research from five focus groups, For the Good of the Church expose the difficulties women face when they work in a church - sexism, unfulfilled vocation, and abuse of power and privilege, as well as the wide range of gifts and skills which women bring in light of these.The second part of the book continues to draw on the particular wounds and gifts, which arise in the focus groups. Specific case studies are used to identify gifts of theology, practice, experience, vocation and power.Against negative prognoses of an 'ecumenical winter', Gabrielle Thomas reveals how radically different theological and ecclesiological perspectives can be a space for learning and receiving gifts for the well-being of the whole Church.

Theology, according to liberation theologians is only a second step. The first is praxis. A liberating praxis puts the poor and the marginalised at the centre. It is found in the collective response of global religious communities responding to crises - and a global pandemic offers an important case in point, reminding religions of our shared humanity, and the need for interreligious cooperation and understanding to effect a positive response.In the context of seismic socio-economic and political change, religion provides a communal response for feeding the poor, fighting for their rights, and challenging the post-colonial financial model that is now beginning to lose its ground.This book blends an examination of emerging research on the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in marginalised communities, with the author's own research on social and poverty isolation in India, and his own experience as told in diaries written whilst in lockdown in a poor district of Santiago, Chile. It challenges majority world churches and religions in a post-pandemic world to learn from each other and from Jesus' own identification with the outcast, and urges them to take on a way of life and prophetic learning from the world of the poor.

Part of the 'SCM Classics' series, this title provides writing still of relevance to students of theology today.

Offering a ground-breaking new perspective on one of the great concerns of our time, Eric Stoddart examines everyday surveillance in the light of concern for the common good.

Bringing together theologians, missiologists, computer scientists and practitioners, Missio Dei in a Digital Age explores the implications of digitality for Missio Dei in thought and practice. This edited collection includes a diverse range of topics from evangelism to pastoral care, biases in algorithms and public theology to homiletics.

How do we talk about climate grief? Hannah Malcolm brings together voices from a multiplicity of different perspectives and backgrounds to reflect upon what a theology of climate grief looks like in their own context - from small island countries to inner-city suburbs, from refugees to those in wealthy western contexts.

In 'This Assembly of Believers' Bryan Cones seeks to take seriously the pastoral context of a congregation, recognising the physical ability, gender and sexuality of those who make up the congregation.

How might the long tradition of the Christian gaze, found in scripture, art, theology and philosophy speak into this selfie generation? How Do I Look? offers an important pastoral and scholarly resource for anyone seeking to understand theologically one of the most profound developments of the digital age.

This book helps educators to treat their teacher identity as a theological resource, rather than an obstacle, and in so doing to discover new insights on Christ which can be of relevance to the wider church and its mission.

Arguing that what is needed is a provisional approach to ministry which recognises that all forms of ministry are, and always have been a response to social and cultural context, 'Ecclesianarchy' brings theological and practical insight to bear on the question of ministry's provisionality.

If ever a period of time felt 'fractured' it is now. Whichever way we turn, we witness the dismembering and fracturing of many previously taken for granted realities, with maps and borders - physical and metaphorical - being redrawn before our eyes. What place for the feminist practical theologian in such a climate?"e;In Fragments for Fractured Times"e;, one of the world's leading feminist practical theologians, Nicola Slee, brings together 15 years of papers, articles, talks and sermons, many of them previously unpublished. Collected from diverse times, places, settings and occasions, Slee offers an introduction to each fragment, "e;holding it up to the light and examining its size, shape, texture and pattern"e;. Drawing on a wide and diverse range of her writing, Slee demonstrates the richness and variety of feminist practical theological writing. What feminist theology brings to the table of scholarly thinking and embodied practice is, she suggests, something creative, artful, prophetic as well as playful - a resource for Christian living and thinking in fractured times.

By listening carefully to the lived experiences of people with severe mental health problems, Finding Jesus in the Storm will open up new understandings and perspectives that challenge current assumptions and draws out fresh perspectives for care, healing, recovery and community.

Leading missional thinkers Cathy Ross and Jonny Baker invite us into a vision of church, mission and society which takes John V. Taylor's ideas seriously, seeking to imagine what Taylor's insights might mean for these three areas in our contemporary context.

Is it possible to develop such a thing as a biblical theology of mental health? How might we develop a helpful and pastoral use of scripture to explore questions of mental health within a Christian framework?This timely and important book integrates the highest levels of biblical scholarship with theological and pastoral concerns to consider how we use scripture when dealing with mental health issues.Chapters include:Paula Gooder on Healing and wholenessJoanna Collicutt on the madness of JesusJohn Swinton on the Bible in pastoral careWalter Brueggemann on Psalms and lamentWith a foreword from Archbishop Justin Welby

An accessible introduction to the doctrine of God, 'Only God Will Save Us' demonstrates for students, ordinands and Christian practitioners how a theological articulation of the nature of God can drive and refine Christian action in the world.

Examines the treatment of religion in the genre of contemporary murder mystery novels, and the implications of this phenomenon for understanding Christian thought in a post-Christian society. This book focuses on the problem of justice.