Hearts Minds Bookstore's Best Books of 2015, Theology Toward the end of the twentieth century, Lesslie Newbigin offered a penetrating analysis of the challenges of pluralism that confronted a Western culture and society reeling from the dissolution of Christendom. His enormous influence has been felt ever since. Newbigin (1909-1998) was a longtime Church of Scotland missionary to India and later General Secretary of the International Missionary Council and Associate General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. The first installment in the Missiological Engagements series, the essays in this volume explore three aspects of Newbigin?s legacy. First, they assess the impact of his 1989 book, Gospel in a Pluralist Society, on Christian mission and evangelism in the West. Second, they critically analyze the nature of Western pluralism in its many dimensions to discern how Christianity can proclaim good news for today. Finally, the contributors discuss the influence of Newbigin's work on the field of missiology. By looking backward, this volume recommends and advances a vision for Christian witness in the pluralistic world of the twenty-first century. Contributions from leading missiologists and theologians, including: William Burrows John Flett Veli-Matti Karkkainen Esther Meek Wilbert Shenk Missiological Engagements charts interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history, theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges church, academy, and society.

The Language of Disenchantment explores how Protestant ideas about language influenced British colonial attitudes toward Hinduism and proposals for the reform of that tradition. Protestant literalism, mediated by a new textual economy of the printed book, inspired colonial critiques of Indian mythological, ritual, linguistic, and legal traditions. Central to these developments was the transposition of the Christian opposition between monotheism and polytheism or idolatry into the domain of language. Polemics against verbal idolatry - including the elevation of a scriptural canon over heathenish custom, the attack on the personifications of mythological language, and the critique of "vain repetitions" in prayers and magic spells - previously applied to Catholic and sectarian practices in Britain were now applied by colonialists to Indian linguistic practices. As a remedy for these diseases of language, the British attempted to standardize and codify Hindu traditions as a step toward both Anglicization and Christianization. The colonial understanding of a perfect language as the fulfillment of the monotheistic ideal echoed earlier Christian myths according to which the Gospel had replaced the obscure discourses of pagan oracles and Jewish ritual. By recovering the historical roots of the British re-ordering of South Asian discourses in Protestantism, Yelle challenges representations of colonialism, and of the modernity that it ushered in, as simply rational or secular.

Combining archival research, oral history and long-term ethnography, this book studies relations between Amerindians and outsiders, such as American missionaries, through a series of contact expeditions that led to the 'pacification' of three native Amazonian groups in Suriname and French Guiana. The author examines and contrasts Amerindian and non-Amerindian views on this process of social transformation through the lens of the body, notions of peacefulness and kinship, as well as native warfare and shamanism. The book addresses questions of change and continuity, and the little explored links between first contacts, capture and native conversion to Christianity in contemporary indigenous Amazonia.

Offers a portrait of Luther's solid contribution to evangelical missiology.

What is my calling? It is a question wrestled with throughout every stage of life but perhaps felt most acutely by the twenty-something population. As Christians we might know that life to the full is experienced when we respond recklessly and wholeheartedly to the call of God. But how do we know what that is? And how do we pursue it once we do? This book tells the story of Rich Wilson and the growth Fusion, a movement that serves over 2200 churches across Europe in reaching students. Packed full of stories of ordinary people caught up in a much bigger God charged-movement, this book will inspire, challenge, reassure and encourage readers that God has a call and a plan for every single life. Exploring the adventures and adversity we face as we dare to live out a faithful response to the call to follow Jesus, these God encounters, ignition moments, dead ends and failures will show how God can use all things to become tools for transformation and forge faith in the journey.

Although Christianity has been a minority religion in Chinese societies, Christians have been powerful catalysts of social activism in seeking to establish democracy and rule of law in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and diasporic communities. The chapters gathered in this collection reveal the vital influence of Christian individuals and groups on social, political, and legal activism in Chinese societies. Written from a range of disciplinary and geographical perspectives, the chapters develop a coherent narrative of Christian activism that illuminates its specific historical, theological, and cultural contexts. Analyzing campaigns for human rights, universal suffrage, and other political reforms, this volume uncovers the complex dynamics of Christian activism, highlighting its significant contributions to the democratization of Greater China.

For too long church leaders have focused on increasing the size of their church rather than increasing their reach outside of the four walls of the church building. The result? Church life becomes a predictable set of routines with predictable results. Church members struggle to reach the neighborhoods they drive through on their way to church programs, unable to penetrate their surrounding communities in a meaningful way. Reaching the Unreached recounts the stories, struggles, and triumphs of individuals and churches that have reinvented themselves to meet the world where it is, working to reach the ones that no one else is reaching. The search for the "silver bullet" of success has diverted us from tapping into the timeless principles found in the book of Acts, says author, pastor, and front-line church planter Peyton Jones. Yet the spiritual climate that Paul and the Apostles stepped into is not all that different from the brave new world the church faces today. From accidentally planting a church in a Starbucks in Europe, to baptizing members of the Mexican mafia in Long Beach Harbor, Jones has been on the frontlines of today's missional movement and has lived to tell the tale. In Reaching the Unreached, he teaches church planters, pastors, and church leaders how to convert pew jockeys into missionaries and awake the sleeping giant of Christ's church, one person at a time. Today there are two types of churches: those who put their proverbial heads in the sand, and those who champion 1st century principles, meet the challenges head on, and embrace the adventure of mission in community. Tomorrow, only one type of church will survive-those that accept the challenge to reach the unreached.

Have discussions with Evangelical Christians left you feeling trapped in a maze of warped reasoning? Have you wondered if they have lost their minds? In "Hooks and Ladders," author and ex-Evangelical Christian Billy Wheaton provides keen insights into Evangelical Christians who operate under a different set of rules than the rest of the world with their own language and cultural norms.

In this unique approach, Wheaton systematically explains how Evangelicals base their sacred doctrines on the ideas of the Apostle Paul, how Paul's reasoning contains characteristics of paranoid schizophrenia, and how the combination creates problems for Evangelicals. Wheaton further discusses how Evangelical autistic and schizophrenic reasoning leaves Evangelicals with irreparable beliefs and a community that cannot function well.

Well-researched and well documented, "Hooks and Ladders" will help non-Evangelicals understand how Evangelical Christians think. It is a step-by-step journey through American Evangelical Christian culture that explains how believers have become trapped playing a game of Hooks and Ladders and why they cannot easily quit playing.

This is one of four projected volumes to emerge from a massive, Pew-funded study that sought to answer the question: What happens when a revivalist religion based on scriptural orthodoxy participates in the volatile politics of the Third World? Is the result a democratic politics of the ballot box, or is it more like an authoritarian politics of command from on high? Does the evangelical faith of the Bible hinder or promote a politics of the ballot box? At a time when the global-political impact of another revivalist and scriptural religion - Islam - fuels vexed debate among analysts the world over, these volumes offer an unusual comparative perspective on a critical issue: The often combustible interaction of resurgent religion and the developing world's unstable politics. Three of the volumes focus on particular regions (Africa, Latin America and Asia). The fourth will address the broader question of evangelical Christianity and democracy in the global setting. The present volume considers the case of Asia. In his introduction, editor David Lumsdaine offers a historical overview of evangelicalism in the region, provides a theoretical framework for understanding evangelical impact on the global south, and summarizes the findings presented in the remainder of the book. Six individual case studies follow, focusing respectively on the situation in China, Western India, Northeast India, Indonesia, South Korea, and the Philippines. The contributors, mainly younger scholars based in Asia, bring first hand-knowledge to their chapters and employ both field and archival research to develop their data and analyses. The result is a groundbreaking work that will be indispensable to everyoneconcerned with the future of the region.

Investigating Vatican II is a collection of Fr. Jared Wicks' recent articles on Vatican II, and presents the Second Vatican Council as an event to which theologians contributed in major ways and from which Catholic theology can gain enormous insights. Taken as a whole, the articles take the reader into the theological dynamics of Vatican II at key moments in the Council's historical unfolding. Wicks promotes a contemporary re-reception of Vatican II's theologically profound documents, especially as they featured God's incarnate and saving Word, laid down principles of Catholic ecumenical engagement, and articulated the church's turn to the modern world with a new "face" of respect and dedication to service. From the original motivations of Pope John XXIII in convoking the Council, Investigating Vatican II goes on to highlight the profound insights offered by theologians who served behind the scenes as Council experts. In its chapters, the book moves through the Council's working periods, drawing on the published and non-published records, with attention to the Council's dramas, crises, and breakthroughs. It brings to light the bases of Pope Francis's call for synodality in a listening church, while highlighting Vatican II's mandate to all of prayerful biblical reading, for fostering a vibrant "joy in the Gospel."

In every generation, the church stands in dire need of God-called people to preach the Word with precision and power. Preachers who will not replace sound theology with culturally palatable soundbites. Preachers who will clearly and faithfully share the gospel and inspire those in their churches to live godly lives. Through in-depth biblical analysis and inspiring examples from church history, Steven J. Lawson paints a picture of God's glory magnified through faithful preaching, reclaiming the high ground of biblical preaching for the next generation. With helpful advice and practical guidance gleaned from 50 years in ministry, Lawson helps aspiring preachers know if they are called to preach; understand the qualifications for ministry; and develop, improve, and deliver strong expository sermons that illuminate the Word of God in a dark world.

Robert Frykenberg's insightful study explores and enhances historical understandings of Christian communities, cultures, and institutions within the Indian world from their beginnings down to the present. As one out of several manifestations of a newly emerging World Christianity, in which Christians of a Post-Christian West are a minority, it has focused upon those trans-cultural interactions within Hindu and Muslim environments which have made Christians in this part of the world distinctive. It seeks to uncover various complexities in the proliferation of Christianity in its many forms and to examine processes by which Christian elements intermingled with indigenous cultures and which resulted in multiple identities, and also left imprints upon various cultures of India.
Thomas Christians believe that the Apostle Thomas came to India in 52 A.D./C.E., and that he left seven congregations to carry on the Mission of bringing the Gospel to India. In our day the impulse of this Mission is more alive than ever. Catholics, in three hierarchies, have become most numerous; and various Evangelicals/Protestant communities constitute the third great tradition. With the rise of Pentecostalism, a fourth great wave of Christian expansion in India has occurred. Starting with movements that began a century ago, there are now ten to fifteen times more missionaries than ever before, virtually all of them Indian. Needless to say, Christianity in India is profoundly Indian and Frykenberg provides a fascinating guide to its unique history and culture.

An engaging and thoughtful book that guides readers into the frontiers of being a missional Christian

"Prodigal Christianity" offers a down-to-earth, accessible, and yet provocative understanding of God's mission of redemption in the world, and how followers of Christ can participate in this work. It speaks into the discontent of all those who have exhausted conservative, liberal, and even emergent ways of being Christian and are looking for a new way forward. It offers building blocks for missional theology and practice that moves Christians into a gospel-centered way of life for our culture and our times.Offers a compelling and creative vision for North American ChristiansPuts forth a theology and ten critical signposts that must be observed to follow a missional way of life: post-Christendom, missio Dei, incarnation, witness, scripture, gospel, church, sexuality, justice, pluralismAsks questions and points to issues that trouble many leaders in the post-modern, post-denominational, post-Christendom church

This book can fill the gap for the average Christian left discontented with the current options "after evangelicalism."

This book examines the life of Catholic religious teaching brothers across the English-speaking world, especially during the religious order heyday period of 1891-1965. Its central theme is that the commitment of teaching brothers was first and foremost to their religious life and that teaching was always in accord with, and where necessary took second place to, that religious life. Related themes are also examined: how teaching brothers were constructed by the Catholic Church as being different from lay people; recruitment to the life; the socialization process; the process of education in brothers' schools; the influence of the Second Vatican Council; child abuse; and what the future holds.

In 1794 a group of Russian Orthodox missionaries landed on Kodiak Island, Alaska, with the intent of preaching to the native Americans, baptizing those who would accept the Christian life and developing for them both academic and agricultural schools. Of this initial effort there survived one monk, Father Herman, who lived among the Aleut people for forty some years and earned the loving nickname of Apa, or "grandfather." Father Herman had a fiery temperament and was often heatedly involved with local authorities concerning the rights of the local natives, who were constantly violated by explorers and foreign authorities. Father Herman's gentle admonition, sense of humor, strict asceticism and care for the physical needs of the natives left a memorable legacy.

In this charming volume, author and illustrator Dorrie Papademetriou captures the divine spark that shone in the monk Herman and reflects it across the pages. The world of Apa and the Aleuts comes alive in illustrations of northern lights, Kodiak bears, giant cabbages and angel's wings. Best of all, readers are warmed by the words of this human heart aflame with divine love.