In the past decades historians have interpreted early modern Christian missions not simply as an adjunct to Western imperialism, but a privileged field for cross-cultural encounters. Placing the Jesuit missions into a global phenomenon that emphasizes economic and cultural relations between Europe and the East, this book analyzes the possibilities and limitations of the religious conversion in the Micronesian islands of Guahan (or Guam) and the Northern Marianas. Frontiers are not rigid spatial lines separating culturally different groups of people, but rather active agents in the transformation of cultures. By bringing this local dimension to the fore, the book adheres to a process of missionary "glocalization" which allowed Chamorros to enter the international community as members of Spain's regional empire and the global communion of the Roman Catholic Church.

This book demonstrates that the encounter between Christianity and various African cultures gives rise to a number of problems for Africans who become Christians. It draws attention to certain traditional African beliefs and practices that seem to be incompatible with Christianity and create problems for Africans who embrace Christianity. Against this background it argues for the need to inculturate Christianity. It contends that in this exercise African Christianity can learn from the attempts at inculturation found in the New Testament times and in the early church. It offers examples of how the early church sought to make use of non-Christian categories of thought and elements in its articulation of the Christian message and in worship. It suggests a few areas of Ghanaian and African life where inculturation could and should take place. These include funeral rites, widowhood rites, child-naming rites, the rites of marriage, libation and christology. It concludes by offering some guidelines for use in the process of the inculturation of Christianity in Africa today.

Engagement with the Muslim world and Muslim people is inevitable for Christians. After all, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States. But what does the Qur'an really say about things like Jesus, war, and non-Muslims? What does the Bible say on these matters? If Christians are to engage in informed, loving conversation with their Muslim neighbors, they need to be equipped with more than the often-specious talking points they glean from the news or email forwards.
"Comparing the Qur'an and the Bible "offers readers an unprecedented collection of Scriptures and doctrines of both faiths presented side by side for easy study and comparison, covering such key issues as
Jesus
Abraham
creation
angels/jinn
jihad
the fall of humankind
predestination
ransom for sin/sacrifice
grace
rebirth
God/Allah
women
marriage and divorce
homosexuality
suicide
resurrection
judgment
Paradise
prayer
A brief explanation of each passage in the Qur'an and the Bible is given, as well as biblical answers to Islamic teaching. The book also motivates readers to have hearts for Muslims and seek to bring them to Christ, offering "door openers" to sharing the Good News. This indispensible collection will be treasured by anyone seeking to understand and engage their Muslim neighbors.

This book explores the vital role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in compensating for the market's and government's inability to provide vital services. Its key theoretical contribution is the notion that poverty is the result of a triadic failure-when markets, government, and civil society become dysfunctional at the same time. Using data on Catholic missionaries' development work, this study presents the various ways by which FBOs mitigate market and government failures in healthcare, education, and social services, and in the process build and strengthen civil society. This study has two main objectives. First, it aims to present an overview of missionaries' development work, evaluating the socioeconomic significance of their faith-based development work. In addition, various comparative advantages and disadvantages have been imputed to FBOs in the religion-development literature, and we assess to what extent missionaries actually exhibit these posited qualities in practice. Second, the groundwork is laid for future religion-development scholars by presenting a theoretical framework and a method for evaluating the role and contributions of FBOs in the larger community. This is an important investigation of contemporary worldwide Christianity and its relationship with development. As such, it will interest scholars of religious studies and missiology, as well as development economics, public service and the political economy.

So you have a problem with evangelical Christians? Which ones? These are the provocative questions Tom Krattenmaker poses to his fellow progressives in The Evangelicals You Don't Know. He challenges stereotypes about evangelical Christians and introduces readers to a movement of "new evangelicals" who are bringing forth a non-partisan expression of evangelicalism and creating opportunities for alliances and partnerships to advance the common good. Krattenmaker argues that cultural fault lines no longer divide the religious from the secular, or the evangelicals from "everyone else." Rather, the lines that matter now run between the fundamentalist culture warriors of both the left and right on one side, and, on the other, the good-doers of any faith, or none, who want to work together to solve our society's problems and introduce a new civility and decency to our shared national life. Krattenmaker is one of the best-informed non-evangelicals writing about evangelicalism in American public life. He offers interesting stories, intriguing character sketches, and incisive writing in his readable and engaging book. Recounting the findings and insights gleaned from his many years of engagement with evangelical America, he draws conclusions sure to surprise, challenge, and even inspire non-evangelicals who had written off this controversial and influential faith movement. The Evangelicals You Don't Know offers a refreshing alternative to narratives that pay attention only to aspects of evangelicalism that are most distasteful and threatening to secular-progressives and liberal religionists - providing instead a hopeful introduction to promising new currents rising among theologically conservative Christians.

An analysis of African American televangelists as cultural icons Through their constant television broadcasts, mass video distributions, and printed publications, African American religious broadcasters have a seemingly ubiquitous presence in popular culture. They are on par with popular entertainers and athletes in the African American community as cultural icons even as they are criticized by others for taking advantage of the devout in order to subsidize their lavish lifestyles. For these reasons questions abound. Do televangelists proclaim the message of the gospel or a message of greed? Do they represent the "authentic" voice of the black church or the Christian Right in blackface? Does the phenomenon reflect orthodox "Christianity" or ethnocentric "Americaninity" wrapped in religious language? Watch This! seeks to move beyond such polarizing debates by critically delving into the dominant messages and aesthetic styles of African American televangelists and evaluating their ethical implications.

aA great service for all of us who teach undergraduate and graduate courses in U.S. religious history. This fine historian has provided us with a representative collection of primary texts, in the process allowing our students the opportunity to encounter the diversity of evangelicals and evangelical ideas in twentieth-century America.a
--William Vance Trollinger, author of "Godas Empire: William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism"

Evangelicalism retains the doctrine of biblical authority that developed during the Protestant Reformation as well as the sense that each individual stands in need of a life transforming experience of forgiveness of sins that can only come through faith in Christ.

With the rise of the Christian Right in American politics over the past quarter-century, there has been renewed interest in Protestant evangelicalism and fundamentalism and their roles in American culture. Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism is a collection of key primary readings tracing the history and development of this religious movement and its intersections with American life and politics, spanning the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first centuries.

The documents deal with issues such as biblical criticism, theology, revivalist preaching, religion and science, religion and politics, and social concerns such as gender and race. Countering notions among some that evangelicalism is monolithic, the diversity of the movement is made evident in texts from the evangelical left as well as the Christian Right.

Each section and many individual texts are prefaced by a brief editoras introduction explaining their background and context. During the period the book covers, evangelicalism went from being the dominant form of religion in America, then to the fringes, then back into the mainstream. These texts provide the reader with a sense of the central core as well as the range of evangelical thinking in the past century.

What was once taboo - faith at work - is increasingly accepted in corporate America. From secretaries to CEOs, growing numbers of businesspeople today want to bring their faith to work. Yet they wrestle with how to do this effectively and appropriately in a pluralistic corporate setting. For help they turn not to their clergy, but to their peers and to a burgeoning cottage industry on spirituality at work. They attend conferences and seminars, participate in Bible study and prayer groups, and read books, blogs, and eNewsletters. They see their faith as a resource for ethical guidance and to help find meaning and purpose in their work.
In God at Work, David W. Miller looks at how this Faith at Work movement developed and considers its potential value for business and society. Done well, the integration of faith and work has positive implications at the personal level, as well as for corporate ethics and the broader economic sphere. At the same time, increasing expressions of religion and spiritual practices at work also present the threat of divisiveness and discrimination.
Drawing on the insights of theological ethics as well as the sociology of religion, Miller analyzes the history of the modern day Faith at Work movement from its roots in the late 19th century to its modern formulation and trajectory. He examines the diversity of its members and modes of expression, and constructs a new framework for understanding, interpreting, and critiquing the movement and its future. Miller concludes that workers and professionals have a deep and lasting desire to live a holistic life, to integrate the claims of their faith with the demands of their work. He documents the surprisingabdication of this field by church and theological academy and its embrace, ironically, by the management academy.
Offering compelling new evidence of the depth and breadth of spirituality at work, Miller concludes that faith at work is a bona fide social movement and here to stay. He establishes the importance of this movement, identifies the possibilities and problems, and points toward future research questions. God at Work is essential reading for business scholars and leaders, theologians and clergy, and anyone interested in the integration of faith and work.

'Meet Me at the Palaver' makes the case for a particular approach to pastoral counseling as a response to the destructive impact of colonial Christianity on indigenous African communities. The book opens with stories of destructive change brought to indigenous contexts (such as Zimbabwe), wherein the culture, values, religion, and humanity of African peoples were often marginalised. Mucherera demonstrates that therapy or counseling as taught in the West will not always su ce in such contexts, since these approaches tend to promote and focus on individuality, autonomy, and independence. Counselors in indigenous contexts need to "get o their couch or chair" and into the neighborhoods - into those places made vulnerable to disease and poverty by the collapse of "the palaver" and other traditional institutions of social stability. Since storytelling was at the heart of the practices of the palaver and continues to be a way of life in African cultures, Mucherera argues for a holistic narrative pastoral counseling approach to assess and service the three basic areas of human needs in indigenous African communities: body, mind, and spirit. Tapiwa N. Mucherera is Professor of Pastoral Counseling at Asbury Theological Seminary and Assistant Provost, Florida campus. He is the author of Pastoral Care from a Third World Perspective. An ordained United Methodist pastor, he has served churches in Zimbabwe, Iowa, and Denver. "The impact of Western colonialism's attempt to extinguish indigenous peoples' stories, communities, value systems, and culture has crippled, for example, African people's ability to face many contemporary problems such as poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This book presents a hopeful strategy of recovering stories, cultural traditions, and values that have been subjugated in the past as e ective means for dealing with contemporary life in indigenous contexts such as Zimbabwe. This narrative pastoral counseling approach is based on traditional African wisdom as well as the knowledge growing out of the author's pastoral counseling experience in Africa and the United States. The author challenges dangerous traditional practices in the age of HIV/AIDS, and the need for justice for the poor. A must read for those interested in working with indigenous peoples." - Dr Edward P. Wimberly, Academic Dean and the Jarena Lee Professor of Pastoral Care at I.T.C. in Atlanta "Mucherera tactfully captures the lost art of storytelling as a mode of communication for therapy and moral values. Though commonly used by indigenous Africans to transmit oral traditions, the narrative approach is a unique tool that creates safe distance for the care receiver and offers ample opportunity to the caregiver to non-judgmentally form an uplifting and therapeutic relationship. This book is a must read for all pastoral caregivers, pastors, counselors, and ministry students, since the narrative approach is an effective communication tool in today's cross-cultural world." - Dr Anne Kiome Gatobu Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care, Asbury Theological Seminary

Religion has always played an important, if often contested, role in the public domain. This book focuses on how faith-based organisations (FBOs) interact with the public sphere, showing how faith-based actors are themselves shaped by wider processes and global forces such as globalisation, migration, foreign policy and neoliberal markets. Focusing on a case study of an FBO in Morocco which gives aid to sub-Saharan African irregular migrants, the book reveals some of the challenges the organisation faces as it tries to negotiate at once local, national and international contexts through their particular Christian values. This book contends that the contradictions, tensions and ambiguities that arise are primarily a result of the organisation having to negotiate a normative global secular liberalism which requires a strict demarcation between religion and politics, and religion and the secular. Faith-based actors, particularly within humanitarianism, have to constantly navigate this divide and in examining the question of how religious values translate into humanitarian and development practices, categories such as religion, the secular and politics and the boundaries between them will need to be interrogated. This book explores the diversity and complexity of the work of FBOs and will be of great interest to students and researchers working at the intersections of humanitarianism and development studies, politics and religion.

You ve heard the overwhelming statistics. You ve probably felt compassion, guilt, powerlessness, hopelessness. You might have given money, food, clothes, or even some of your time to help a few of the billions of people living in destitution in our world. But have you actually engaged with someone, another human being created in the image of God, who is dying in the arms of poverty?Andy Matheson, Oasis International Director, argues that we can only begin to understand poverty, its effects, and possible solutions when we focus on the truth that all people are made in God?'s image. God calls us to meet with the poor not primarily to offer services or to develop programs, but to developrelationships and to show God?'s love.

A practical starting point for Christians to share the hope of Jesus with Muslims. Since September 11th, 2001, relationships between Christians and Muslims have been defined by fear. Increasing violence in the Middle East has caused Islam to be associated with persecution and terrorism and has led many Christians to view Muslims as the enemy. But the Bible provides clear instruction to move past fear and share the Gospel with all peoples, including Muslims. Every Christian can be an ambassador of Christ to Muslims, even without becoming an expert on Islam. In Sharing Jesus with Muslims, Fouad Masri encourages Christians to set aside fear, excuses, and differences and share the good news of Jesus. Rich with stories and conversation starters, the book gives readers tangible and respectful ways to initiate friendships and minister to the felt needs of Muslims. Sharing Jesus with Muslims serves as a step-by-step guide for effective witnessing, and includes: Conversation starters Insight into Muslim culture, including do's and don'ts Biblical responses to issues relevant to Islam Stories with practical application from Masri's forty years of ministry to Muslims Discipleship materials for ministering to Muslims Void of judgement or guilt trips, pastors, ministry leaders, and everyday Christians will find their relationships with Muslims enhanced by the principles in this book. Pick up Sharing Jesus with Muslims and discover the joy of serving and relating to Muslims.

Jose de Acosta's De procuranda Indorum salute: A Call for Evangelical Reforms in Colonial Peru contextualizes and analyzes the deployment of Catholic missionary forces in the Andes. Its exhaustive approach to the ecclesiastic and political reforms of late-sixteenth-century Peru exposes the philosophical and legal underpinnings of Spain's colonial policies. As this book analyzes Jose de Acosta's De procuranda Indorum salute, one of the most important treatises of the colonial period, it explores influences and intentions and reveals context and subtext. Comprehensive in its appraisal of Acosta's intellectual achievement, this book is essential for scholars and students of this early period of Christian and European expansion in the Americas. Not only does Gregory J. Shepherd examine Acosta's missionary manual against the controversial backdrop of Las Casas and Sepulveda, but he also reconstructs the political atmosphere surrounding Toledo's massive and intrusive transformation of Andean life. Most importantly, this text carries out a thorough study of the ideologies - Christian, Jesuit, and European - underlying Acosta's appeal for political, social, and ecclesiastic reform.

There is a deepening crisis in mission as practiced by North American congregations. Many mission activities are more effective at satisfying church members than making a lasting difference, producing what's too often consumer-oriented "selfie mission." Too much effort is based on colonial-era assumptions of mission launched from a position of power. These practices are not just ineffective-they deviate from mission in the way of Jesus. Hunter Farrell and Bala Khyllep want to help free congregational mission from harmful cultural forces so churches can better partner with God's work in the world. They invite leaders to lay the foundation for more faithful and effective missions with three core elements: a Christ-centered theology of mission rooted in companionship an appetite and competence to engage across differences with cultural humility insights and strategies to accompany local and global neighbors in co-development Farrell and Khyllep deliver key takeaways from the latest mission research, inspiring examples from innovative congregations, and a set of step-by-step tools for churches to discern and implement sound practices that will work for them. The local church community is well-positioned to build a spreading circle of relationships centered in Jesus Christ. With this book, congregations of every Christian tradition will find practical help to direct their resources in truly life-giving ways as they seek the mission of God.

The present volume, based on a related conference in Erfurt, offers interdisciplinary insights on the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church or the Pan-Orthodox Council, convened on the island of Crete in June 2016. Although some Orthodox Churches finally declined to participate - the most prominent being the Russian one -, the Council was a most significant development. It brought a considerable number of Orthodox Churches together and discussed crucial issues pertaining to today's Orthodox world. However, it also vividly revealed existing serious problems of inter-Orthodox communication and collaboration. The contributions in this volume shed light on main issues related to this Council and their multiple repercussions for Pan-Orthodox unity and the future of the Orthodox world.

Many people feel unfulfilled. Some cannot put their finger on what is holding them back, but they know that something is. Presented with clarity, understanding, and great biblical and psychological insight, this book reveals the relationship between the personal spirit and the Holy Spirit. It shows the areas of a person's life that can be hindered by a slumbering personal spirit, such as the conscience, building and sustaining personal relationships, intimate communication, and devotional life. It gives life-transforming principles for awakening our personal spirit and learning to walk confidently in the nature and image of Christ.

In this volume of The New Church s Teaching Series, Titus Presler offers a fresh vision of mission in the multicultural environment of a global community. Arguing that Christian mission expresses God s longing to embrace humanity in love, Presler explores how gospel understandings are being reshaped by Christians in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Christianity s new centers of gravity. He explores the scriptural basis of mission, historical and contemporary Anglican approaches to mission, the encounter with other religions, and the interaction of gospel and culture. His ten principles for mission in the twenty-first century will help parishes and dioceses to engage in world mission as companions in mutuality. As with each book in The New Church s Teaching Series, recommended resources for further reading and questions for discussion are included.

The Navajo as Seen by the Franciscans is the story of one of the great cultural confluences in American history, the coming of Franciscan missionaries to the Navajo people. Here, in the words of the friars who lived it, is part of that remarkable story. Utilizing both primary and secondary materials, this sourcebook aims to make more readily accessible the views of the Franciscans, both in their personal writings and in national publications and mission magazines addressing the Catholic laity and potential donors. Selections include internal reports and position papers not intended for publication, diaries and personal correspondence, and notes and unfinished drafts. Each text is introduced by the editor and has been carefully selected for inclusion to provide a comprehensive view of the Navajo of the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as insights into those that served them as teachers, advocates, counselors, and medical missionaries. Because most Franciscan missionaries came to live among the Navajo for their entire lives, their primary commitment was neither to "science" nor to publication for their academic peers, but to the welfare, both here and in the hereafter, of those among whom they served, allowing for a complex and mutually beneficial relationship between the two. This volume covers the remarkably productive first decades of the Franciscan missions to the Navajo, during the ministry of Father Anselm Weber, from the arrival of the first missionaries in 1898 to Fr. Anselm's passing in 1921. Its 43 chapters are divided into six parts: Beginnings, Indian Policy, Early Ministry 1901-1910, Navajo Land, Among the People 1911-1920, and Navajo Customs and Character. Supplemented by 16 rare black and white photographs, this reference work is a fascinating glance into the lives of two cultures forever changed by each other.

Until 1492, Christianity was totally unknown to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Although the Native Americans already had long-established religious cultures of their own, the arrival of the Christian Europeans made an extremely significant impact on their lives: over the following five centuries, millions of American Indians would come to identify themselves as Christians. Roman Catholicism, and, in terms of numbers of self-identified American Indian Catholics, Catholicism has remained the dominant Christian religion among Indian peoples -- for better or worse.

On the Padres' Trail begins with the arrival of Europeans in the New World and the invasion of the Caribbean, from which author Christopher Vecsey traces the expansion of Catholicism into New Spain. He devotes special attention to the history of the Catholic faith and institutions among the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico. particularly in the years since the establishment of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Then he turns his attention to the history and effects, both good and bad, of the Catholic missions among the Indians of California. In the final section of the book, he details the history of the judgments made about Catholic missionizing in California (and, by extension, all of New Spain) and closes with the sometimes critical perspectives of contemporary Native American Catholics regarding the padres who first brought Catholicism to their ancestors.

On the Padres' Trail, the first volume in Professor Vecsey's three-volume American Indian Catholics series, is an invaluable additon to current scholarship on the history of the Catholic Church and to the field of Native American studies.

As parents, we always worry if we're doing enough for our children, but there's one thing we can do no matter where we are in our parenting journey: pray. With a grace-filled approach and a warm, personal style, bestselling author Jodie Berndt gives you the tools and the encouragement you need to pray intentionally for your children. This unique interactive journal, based on the bestseller Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, is an invitation to ignite your faith by praying for your children. Along the way, you'll discover firsthand how using the Bible to shape your desires and requests opens the door to God's provision-and frees you from things like worry and fear in your parenting. You can finally take comfort in knowing that no matter how far away your kids may be, they are never out of His reach. Filled with biblical insights, compelling prayer principles, and prompts to direct you and deepen your faith, Praying the Scriptures Journal offers you a way to powerfully influence your children's lives. This interactive journal also includes: Focused areas of prayer, including faith, character, safety, relationships, the future, and more Encouraging quotes from Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens, and Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children Timeless Scripture verses that go along with the topic of each section Journaling prompts for personal processing, along with plenty of space for notes Short prayers to help you start praying for your children Berndt reminds us that there can be no greater privilege than partnering with Him, through our prayers, to accomplish His best purposes in the lives of the people we love.

This encyclopedia is a comprehensive survey and analysis of the main philosophical, scientific (or empirical), and theological studies of mission in the 19th and 20th centuries. It deals with (1) the names, (2) the concepts, (3) the methods, and (4) the branches of missiology. Therefore, it concludes with four chapters after an introductory chapter. Since most branches of missiology only came into existence in the 19th century, most analyses, descriptions, and bibliographies do not go back beyond 1800. Both the philosophy of mission and the science of mission are dealt with in this first volume. The theology of mission, especially the missionary theology, is thoroughly discussed in the second volume.

As Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Disciples of Christ, and other predominantly European-centered Christian denominations of North America seek to respond as a faith community to the increasingly dynamic ethnic and cultural diversity within our society, this book offers a sobering yet valuable perspective. By understanding the ministry of Christian evangelism as a construct that speaks of the power of divine transformation (personal and communal) and the embrace of a way of life, this work argues for a multi-variant approach that values the philosophical aspects of cultural differences, which are effective and faithful models of Christian evangelism. An analysis of key missiological concepts, such as mission histories, ethno-theologies, worldview, culture, ethnic cohesion, and contextualization is appropriated to illuminate the theological voices and evangelical practices of a specific people, or ethnicity, shaped by a journey of spiritual faith. While the numerical significance of self-identified African-American Presbyterians may appear small, their synergistic encounter of human identity and religious faith, historical experience in the church, and the impact of their evangelical presence provide an excellent case study for discerning the twenty-first-century challenges of evangelism. This thorough study of history, theology, organizational structures, methods, and techniques will serve as a valuable tool in evaluating the impact of the faith journey of African-American Presbyterians and its challenges for today and the future.

The need to train Christian missionaries was an afterthought of the Protestant missionary movement in the early nineteenth century. The Basel Missionary Training Institute (BMTI) was the first school designed solely for the purpose of preparing European missionaries for ministry in non-European lands. Pitfalls of Trained Incapacity explores the various sociological and historical factors that influenced the BMTI 'community of practice' and how the outcomes affected the work of the Basel Mission in Ghana in its initial phase. It shows that the integral training of the BMTI resulted in missionary practices that lacked flexibility to adjust attitudes and behaviour to the vastly different circumstances in Africa, impeded the realisation of mission objectives, and hindered the emergence of an African appropriation of Christianity. By exploring educational and sociological perspectives in a pre-colonial context, this study reaches beyond its historical significance to raise questions of unintended effects of integral ministry training in other times and places. The natural cultural bias of groups with shared theological assumptions and social ideals - like the Basel Mission - suggests a strong propensity for trained incapacity, that is, for training processes that establish inflexible mental frameworks that are potentially detrimental to intercultural engagement.

Despite the popularity of sport in contemporary China, the practice of physical education is not indigenous to its culture. Strenuous physical activity was traditionally linked to low class and status in the pre-modern Chinese society. The concept of modern PE was introduced to China by Western Christian missionaries and directors of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). It then grew from a tool for Christian evangelism to a strategic instrument in Chinese nation-building. This book examines the transformation of Chinese attitudes toward PE and sport, drawing on the concepts of cultural imperialism and nationalism to understand how an imported Western activity became a key aspect of modernization for the Chinese state. More specifically, it looks at the relationship between Christianity and the rise of Chinese nationalism between 1840 and 1937. Combining historical insight with original research, this book sheds new light on the evolution of PE and sport in modern China. It is fascinating reading for all those with an interest in sports history, Chinese culture and society, Christianity, physical education or the sociology of sport.