It's time for everyone who cares about the state of our nation to heed the call and join forces to redeem the soul of America. It's time to come together and renounce the politics of rejection, division, and greed. It's time to lift up the common good, move up to higher ground, and revive the heart of democracy. In a single, rousing sermon, the celebrated Reverend William J. Barber II of the Poor People's Campaign makes an impassioned argument whose message could not be clearer: It's time for change, and the time needs you.

"Freedom begins in the ear before it reaches the mouth." Every once in a while a book comes along that profoundly makes the most original thoughts immediately familiar. The Divine Voice is such a book. Stephen Webb challenges readers to take sound seriously. Not only did God's first "sounds" speak the world into being, but sound and voice have also played an undeniably central role in biblical revelation, prophetic proclamation, and the New Testament call to verbal witness. Webb goes on to make the surprising claim that the obligation of all Christians to witness to their faith is "inseparable from the need to acquire and practice the rhetorical skills of public speaking." While the very words "public speaking" might strike terror in many readers' hearts, Webb confronts the issues of stage fright and speaking disabilities head-on, pointing his readers to the biblical narratives concerning difficult speaking. The Divine Voice performs its own significant insight: the life of the pilgrim is not just a spatial journey, but is an audition of sorts, in which we take the Bible's words as our own. As Webb points out, the good news is that we've already been cast in the play. Now, we can embrace a life of witness by rehearsing and "inhabiting the sounds of faith." An indispensable book for preachers, students of homiletics, and all concerned to see (and hear) sound in new ways.

Christianity Expanding - Into Universal Spirituality takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the areas that need updating if Christianity is to flourish in the 21st Century. New science, ecological concern and the need for new theology are all converging into a maelstrom of change. With broad brushstrokes on a big canvas, a path of personal transformation is charted, drawing on the mysterious Perennial Wisdom teachings that have survived down the ages. Pulling no punches, Don MacGregor delves into typically taboo subjects such as reincarnation, drawing a distinction between Jesus and the Christ. This dynamic first volume of The Wisdom Series is an initial outline of areas that demand ongoing exploration.

Author and pastor David Kim shares his experiences with loneliness as a Korean American immigrant and delivers compelling research about belonging that includes the revolutionary five anchors for developing meaningful relationships. Even though we are connected more than ever--through social media, video calls and texts, and advanced travel opportunities--we're also drowning in loneliness and isolation. As discipleship pastor of WestGate Church in Silicon Valley, David Kim decided to research the reasons why--and uncovered surprising answers. When Kim moved to America from South Korea as a child, he experienced isolation during his school years. Differences in language, food, and culture spiked an immense desire for an accepting, supportive community. As an adult, he read widely about belonging, and in his survey of more than 1,300 Christians, he discovered that the number-one struggle shared by them is loneliness. Left to ourselves, Kim says, we naturally drift away from God and others, and we begin to believe the lies of the enemy: You are all alone. No one else feels this way. No one cares about you. How could they? God has abandoned you. You were just imagining things before. In Made to Belong, Kim combats those lies with the incredible hope found in the revolutionary Five Practices for Meaningful Connection: Priority: People first, no regrets. Chemistry: What, you too? Vulnerability: Dangerously safe. Empathy: I hear and see you. Accountability: I can't carry it, but I can carry you. True belonging takes intentional effort, but Kim reminds us that we are made to belong--to each other and to Jesus. Through sound wisdom from the Bible, proven research from the social sciences and his own data, and examples from his pastoral ministry and moving personal anecdotes, Kim shows us that we are uniquely designed by God to belong to one another for our flourishing.

The Slave Metaphor and Gendered Enslavement in Early Christian Discourse adds new knowledge to the ongoing discussion of slavery in early Christian discourse. Kartzow argues that the complex tension between metaphor and social reality in early Christian discourse is undertheorized. A metaphor can be so much more than an innocent thought figure; it involves bodies, relationships, life stories, and memory in complex ways. The slavery metaphor is troubling since it makes theology of a social institution that is profoundly troubling. This study rethinks the potential meaning of the slavery metaphor in early Christian discourse by use of a variety of texts, read with a whole set of theoretical tools taken from metaphor theory and intersectional gender studies, in particular. It also takes seriously the contemporary context of modern slavery, where slavery has re-appeared as a term to name trafficking, gendered violence, and inhuman power systems.

Why should Christians care about animals? Is there a biblical basis for abstaining from eating animals? Is avoiding companies that use (and misuse) animals a viable way for Christians to live out the message of God? Sarah Withrow King makes the argument that care for all of creation is no 'far-fetched' idea that only radical people would consider, but rather a faithful witness of the peaceful kingdom God desires and Jesus modelled. This includes all living and breathing creatures that share this earth with us. King uses her decade-plus of experience as a vegan, her seminary education, her evangelical Christian faith, and her years working with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to call Christians to examine how we treat and view the nonhuman animals with whom we share a finite planet.

"It's not a process," one pastor insisted, "rehabilitation is a miracle." In the face of addiction and few state resources, Pentecostal pastors in Guatemala City are fighting what they understand to be a major crisis. Yet the treatment centers they operate produce this miracle of rehabilitation through extraordinary means: captivity. These men of faith snatch drug users off the streets, often at the request of family members, and then lock them up inside their centers for months, sometimes years. Hunted is based on more than ten years of fieldwork among these centers and the drug users that populate them. Over time, as Kevin Lewis O'Neill engaged both those in treatment and those who surveilled them, he grew increasingly concerned that he, too, had become a hunter, albeit one snatching up information. This thoughtful, intense book will reframe the arc of redemption we so often associate with drug rehabilitation, painting instead a seemingly endless cycle of hunt, capture, and release.

In Inherit the Holy Mountain, historian Mark Stoll introduces us to the religious roots of the American environmental movement. Religion, he shows, provided environmentalists both with deeply-embedded moral and cultural ways of viewing the world and with content, direction, and tone for the causes they espoused. Stoll discovers that specific denominational origins corresponded with characteristic sets of ideas about nature and the environment as well as distinctive aesthetic reactions to nature, as can be seen in key works of art analyzed throughout the book. Stoll also provides insight into the possible future of environmentalism in the United States, concluding with an examination of the current religious scene and what it portends for the future. By debunking the supposed divide between religion and American environmentalism, Inherit the Holy Mountain opens up a fundamentally new narrative in environmental studies.

American Evangelicalism is ablaze. This is an inevitable result of divisions along ethnic and cultural lines, which have long tarnished the movement's witness. Doctrinal identity unites black and white evangelicals, but rifts afflict the camp, so the movement is waning. In A Burning House, Brandon Washington contends that deliberate and sacrificial integration is the sole solution to bolster evangelicalism's foundation. In the 1950s and '60s, with desegregation on the horizon, Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I've come to believe that we are integrating into a burning house." As with the country, if we hope to move toward integrating the American Evangelical church, we must do so as firefighters. Washington is not calling American Evangelicalism to become something new. Rather, he challenges the movement to realize what it has always been in Christ. The selfless integration of Evangelicalism will result in a holy witness to humanity and a greater understanding of Shalom--peace, justice, wholeness--in the world. These are the inevitable fruits of espousing and preaching a comprehensive gospel message.

Religious liberty is one of the most contentious political issues of our time. How should people of faith engage with the public square in a pluralist era? Some citizens hope to reclaim a more Christian vision of national identity, while others resist any religious presence at all. This dispute is not new, and it goes back to the founding era of American history. As the country was being formed, some envisioned a Christian nation where laws would require worship attendance and Sabbath observance. Others advocated for a thoroughly secular society where faith would have no place in public life. But neither extreme won the day, thanks to the unsung efforts of a Connecticut pastor who forged a middle way. Historian Brandon O'Brien unveils an untold story of how religious liberty came to be. Between the Scylla and Charybdis of theocracy and secularism, Baptist pastor Isaac Backus contended for a third way. He worked to secure religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all Americans, not just for one particular denomination or religious tradition. Backus's ideas give us insight into how people of faith navigate political debates and work for the common good. Backus lived in an age of both religious revival and growing secularism, competing forces much like those at work today. The past speaks into the present as we continue to demand liberty and justice for all.

Powerful sermons from Washington National Cathedral in the midst of the pandemic. Through their sermons, Cathedral clergy and guest preachers such as Jon Meacham, Kelly Brown Douglas, and Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry share inspiring words. Collectively, they offer lasting guidance for difficult times, reinforcing that even in the midst of loss and chaos, God is at work among us, lifting us up and giving us hope for the future. Topics include hope, faith during times of distress, love, grief, and the presence of God. With a foreword by Jon Meacham.

The Bible has a lot to say about the body. Organized around three categories-creation, fall, redemption-this book by Sam Allberry provides readers with a balanced theology of the body as they seek to glorify God in everything they do.

Whose lives count as fully human? The answer matters for everyone, disabled or not. The ancient Greek ideal linked physical wholeness to moral wholeness - the virtuous citizen was "beautiful and good." It's an ideal that has all too often turned deadly, casting those who do not measure up as less than human. In the pre-Christian era, infants with disabilities were left on the rocks; in modern times, they have been targeted by eugenics. Much has changed, thanks to the tenacious advocacy of the disability rights movement. Yesteryear's hellish institutions have given way to customized educational programs and assisted living centers. Public spaces have been reconfigured to improve access. Therapies and medical technology have advanced rapidly in sophistication and effectiveness. Protections for people with disabilities have been enshrined in many countries' antidiscrimination laws. But these victories, impressive as they are, mask other realities that collide awkwardly with society's avowals of equality. Why are parents choosing to abort a baby likely to have a disability? Why does Belgian law allow for euthanasia in cases of disability, even absent a terminal diagnosis or physical pain? Why, when ventilators were in short supply during the first Covid wave, did some states list disability as a reason to deny care? On this theme: - Heonju Lee tells how his son with Down syndrome saved another child's life. - Molly McCully Brown and Victoria Reynolds Farmer recount their personal experiences with disability. - Amy Julia Becker says meritocracies fail because they value the wrong things. - Maureen Swinger asks six mothers around the world about raising a child with disabilities. - Joe Keiderling documents the unfinished struggle for disability rights. - Isaac T. Soon wonders if Saint Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was a disability. - Leah Libresco Sargeant reviews What Can a Body Do? and Making Disability Modern. - Sarah C. Williams says testing for fetal abnormalities is not a neutral practice. Also in the issue: - Ross Douthat is brought low by intractable Lyme disease. - Edwidge Danticat flees an active shooter in a packed mall. - Eugene Vodolazkin finds comic relief at funerals, including his own father's. - Kelsey Osgood discovers that being an Orthodox Jew is strange, even in Brooklyn. - Christian Wiman pens three new poems. - Susannah Black profiles Flannery O'Conner. - Our writers review Eyal Press's Dirty Work, Steve Coll's Directorate S, and Millennial Nuns by the Daughters of Saint Paul. Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to apply their faith to the challenges we face. Each issue includes in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art.

James Dobson, founder of the conservative Christian foundation Focus on the Family, is well-known to the secular world as a crusader for the Christian right. But within Christian circles he is known primarily as a childrearing expert. Millions of American children have been raised on his message, disseminated through books, videos, radio programs, magazines, and other media. While evangelical Christians have always placed great importance on familial responsibilities, Dobson placed the family at the center of Christian life. Only by sticking to proper family roles can we achieve salvation. Women, for instance, only come to know God fully by submitting to their husbands and nurturing their children. Such uniting of family life and religion has drawn people to the organization, just as it has forced them to wrestle with what it meant to be a Christian wife, husband, mother, father, son, or daughter. Adapting theories from developmental psychology that melded parental modeling with a conservative Christian theology of sinfulness, salvation, and a living relationship with Jesus, Dobson created a new model for the Christian family. But what does that model look like in real life? Drawing on interviews with mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters, Practicing What the Doctor Preached explores how actual families put Dobson's principles into practice. To what extent does Focus shape the practices of its audience to its own ends, and to what extent does Focus' understanding of its members' practices and needs shape the organization? Susan B. Ridgely shows that, while Dobson is known for being rigid and dogmatic, his followers show surprising flexibility in the way they actually use his materials. She examines Focus's listeners and their changing needs over the organization's first thirty years, a span that saw the organization expand from centering itself on childrearing to entrenching itself in public debates over sexuality, education, and national politics.

Climate change-related effects and aftermaths of natural disasters, such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, have wreaked havoc on local peoples' lives and livelihoods, especially in impoverished coastal communities. This book looks at local-level responses to the effects of climate change from the perspective of ecological theology and feminism, which provides a solution-based and gender-equitable approach to some of the problems of climate change. It examines how local social and religious action workers are partnering with local communities to transform and reconstruct their lives and livelihoods in the 21st century.

The leaders you develop today will determine your ministry's future.
Amplified Leadership introduces a process for developing spiritual maturity in believers that prepares them for potential spiritual leadership. It's an intentional sequence that takes a person or group of people from the point of early identification as committed believers who possess emerging leadership characteristics and qualities to a place where spiritual maturity is fully developed. This process empowers these committed believers to mentor and lead others through the spiritual growth process and equips them to be able to potentially/ultimately recognize and develop spiritual maturity and leadership qualities in others.
This book does not simply present a list of leadership principles; it is based on spiritual and biblical principles that connect to a pattern of spiritual development that has proven to have greater impact and longer-lasting results. It involves a relational process of connecting with people who intentionally cultivate and mentor individuals who are young in faith to the level of committed Christian and potential spiritual leader. It demonstrates that spiritual maturity and leadership potential are necessary to any believer today who wants to impact his/her world for God and who desires to mentor and lead others into a committed relationship with God.

"The first step in the reconciliation process," Spencer Perkins writes, "is admitting that the race problem exists and that our inability to deal with race has weakened the credibility of our gospel." When longtime ministry partners and friends Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice began writing More Than Equals in the early 1990s, their goal was to offer an example of how racial reconciliation is possible-and also critical to Christian discipleship. This landmark book tells the stories of two men from very different backgrounds embarking on the complex, costly journey of healing across racial divides. Perkins, who witnessed repeated hypocrisy from white Christians and witnessed his bloodied pastor-activist father after a brutal police beating, wondered how it was possible to love white people. Rice, who grew up as a white missionary kid and thought of himself as progressive, was surprised by the tensions he encountered as a volunteer at a majority-black church-and by his own blind spots. As they served together in an intentionally multiracial ministry, both gained insight into why this work is so challenging and how Christians can do it well, in dependence on God. With biblical grounding, hopeful realism, and practical detail, More Than Equals provides a helpful framework for Christians engaged in the deep ongoing surgery of racial healing. Now available as part of the IVP Signature Collection, this edition includes a new preface by Rice and a study guide for group discussion.

What does it mean to love our country? Some Christians see loyalty to America as central to our faith and identity. Other Christians are skeptical that our nation warrants such devotion or attachment. But Richard Mouw encourages Christians to have a healthy sense of national peoplehood that promotes civic kinship and responsible citizenship. He navigates between Christian nationalism on one hand and cynicism about country on the other to avoid the perils of both idolatry and disengagement. Mouw grapples with sticky questions such as how to honor national holidays in church and the place of protests in forging a more perfect union. Placing love of country in the context of Christian love of neighbor, he sees patriotism as an expression of our heavenly citizenship and a call to help our country be a place where all people can thrive in peace. Mouw's winsome and wise reflections direct our patriotic affections toward the civic good of others within our churches and in our communities. This guide helps us travel together on a shared national journey toward liberty and justice for all.

In recent years, and in particular since the election of Barack Obama, the religious conversation in America has been dominated by calls for progressives to move beyond "partisanship" by reaching out to evangelicals in order to create a "big tent" on social issues such as abortion and marriage equality, despite the lack of evidence that such a strategy can or ever did work. This misguided notion that we can build a shared political and religious center has for the most part shut out true progressive voices, allowing a small conservative minority to control the political and religious debate in this country, with only the most tepid of moral criticism from the religious centrists who claim to desire bipartisan consensus.

In "Changing the Script," Daniel Schultz, one of the leading progressive religious voices in America today, builds upon the insights of Old Testament scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann to identify five "scripts" that exercise unseen power in our society: the therapeutic, technological, consumerist, militarist, and conformist. Confronting each of these scripts and the actions of both the Right and the Left that have allowed them to take root in our culture, Schultz voices a perspective that shows what an authentically progressive and authentically faithful religious ideal would truly look like.

Daniel Schultz is a pastor in the United Church of Christ and co-founder of the blog Street Prophets (www.streetprophets.com), where he writes as "pastordan." He has contributed to many online sites and publications and is a graduate of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

Tom Wright was recently acclaimed by Newsweek as 'the world's leading New Testament scholar'

In the "The Misunderstood Jew," scholar Amy-Jill Levine helps Christians and Jews understand the "Jewishness" of Jesus so that their appreciation of him deepens and a greater interfaith dialogue can take place. Levine's humor and informed truth-telling provokes honest conversation and debate about how Christians and Jews should understand Jesus, the New Testament, and each other.

Im Jahre 2000 erschien die grundlegende Bibliographie zu den Sermones ad populum Augustins. Inzwischen wurden mehr als 450 weitere Titel dazu publiziert, die hier erganzend prasentiert werden als Arbeitsinstrument der immer mehr aufbluhenden Forschung zu Augustinus als Prediger. Die Einleitung stellt den neuesten Forschungsstand vor sowie eine umfassende Liste des gegenwartig anerkannten Bestandes an authentischen Predigten. Die ausfuhrlichen Indices bieten vor allem eine detaillierte Aufschlusselung aller Publikationen (Editionen - UEbersetzungen - Studien) fur jede einzelne der 567 Predigten.