What is the place of religious belief in modern culture? Recent years have seen cataclysmic chab=nges in society, yet, far from being banished from today's world, religion is assuming a new significance. Clashing Symbols has become recognised as the most accessible and authoritative introduction to a crucial area in religious studies: the relationship between faith and culture.

Against the background of impending and then actual war, the discussions of the Moot focused on the roles of moral choice and the Christian community. The Moot was the study and discussion group set up by J.H. Oldham (1874-1969) following the 1937 Oxford Conference on 'Church, Community and State'. Its purpose was to continue, in an informal, confidential but serious way, exploration of the relation between church and society and the realisation of Christian ethics in the public sphere. The Moot met twice or three times a year from 1938 to 1947 (21 times in all) and was convened by Oldham with the conscious intention of responding to the grave crisis that was felt to be facing western society in Britain no less than on the continent of Europe. Overall some 35 people attended the Moot at one time or another, but its core comprised a small number of regular members who were representative of the highest levels in theology, social science and public affairs. In addition to Oldham himself they included John Baillie, T.S. Eliot, H.A. Hodges, Eleonora Iredale, Adolf Lowe, Karl Mannheim, Walter Moberly, John Middleton Murry and Alec Vidler. Other participants included Kathleen Bliss, Fred Clarke, Christopher Dawson, H.H. Farmer, Hector Hetherington, Walter Oakshott and Gilbert Shaw, while notables such as Reinhold Niebuhr, Melville Chaning-Pearce, Donald Mackinnon, Philip Mairet, Lesslie Newbigin, William Paton, Frank Pakenham (later Lord Longford), Michael Polanyi and Oliver Tomkins made occasional 'guest appearances'. Against the background of impending and then actual war, the discussions in the Moot repeatedly focused on the 'planned' nature of modern society and therewith the roles (if any) within it of moral choice and the Christian community.

As society becomes more culturally diverse and globally connected, churches and seminaries are rapidly changing. And as the church changes, preaching must change too. Crossover Preaching proposes a way forward through conversation with the "dean of the nation's black preachers," Gardner C. Taylor, senior pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. In this richly interdisciplinary study, Jared E. Alcantara argues that an analysis of Taylor's preaching reveals an improvisational-intercultural approach that recovers his contemporary significance and equips US churches and seminary classrooms for the future. Alcantara argues that preachers and homileticians need to develop intercultural and improvisational proficiencies to reach an increasingly intercultural church. Crossover Preaching equips them with concrete practices designed to help them cultivate these competencies and thus communicate effectively in a changing world.

Culture affects how we make disciples. We often unconsciously bring our own cultural assumptions into ministry and mission, not realizing that how we think and operate is not necessarily the best or only way to do things. In today's global environment, disciplemaking requires the cultural humility and flexibility to adapt between different cultural approaches. Charles Davis, former director of TEAM, provides a framework for missional disciplemaking across diverse cultural contexts. He shows how we can recalibrate our ministry efforts, like adjusting sound levels on a mixer board, to accommodate different cultural assumptions. With on-the-ground stories from a lifetime of mission experience, Davis navigates such tensions as knowledge and behavior, individualism and collectivism, and truth and works to help Christian workers minister more effectively. Ministry teams, church planters, pastors and missionaries working interculturally at home or overseas can be part of God's movement of making disciples. Discover how the body of Christ grows in the unity and diversity of the global church.

The Rhetoric of Operation Rescue is a comprehensive examination of the rhetoric of Operation Rescue, a pro-life social protest group (prominent between 1988 and 1992) that orchestrated blockades of clinics where abortions are performed. Steiner examines how the group sought to persuade people-primarily conservative evangelical and fundamentalist Christians-to join their ranks, as well as how they sought to use their form of social protest to achieve their public policy goals. In so doing, Steiner explains both the group's initial success (beginning with its 1988 "Siege of Atlanta" protests) and its ultimate failure. More fundamentally, though, Steiner shows how the group appealed to the convictions of conservative evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in the United States. He shows how the rhetoric of Operation Rescue-for those conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists that found it convincing-shaped fundamental understandings of what their Christian faith means, how to practice it in an authentic manner, and how to engage in public dialogue and political activism.

Shortlisted for the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize Smokey Mountain, the vast garbage dump in Manila has served for many years as an emblem of third world squalor - a metaphor for a planet slowly choking on garbage and waste. But for Fr Beltran, who served for three decades as a chaplain to the scavengers who survive off this reeking heap, it is also a metaphor of hope - an emblem of the will to survive, the ability to create joy and find meaning even in the midst of abject poverty. Faith and Struggle on Smokey Mountain describes the spiritual resilience of the scavengers of Smokey Mountain, and how they taught Beltran to read the Gospel with new eyes. The lessons he learned bear a message for all who struggle for a better world.

"What can I do?" That was the question Diane Latiker asked of herself as she watched the teens in her Chicago neighborhood succumb at an alarming rate to gangs and gun violence. Her answer started small, inviting ten kids into her living room to talk about their struggles and dreams. But over the years it grew. With the help of God, her family, and many other people along the way, Diane's Kids Off the Block morphed from a personal crusade to do what she could into a nationally known program that has helped more than 3,000 at-risk Chicago teens. In this powerful, energizing book, she tells her incredible story to men and women who are sick of sitting behind their keyboards watching the world crumble and are ready to do something to make a difference. Through doubt, financial strain, and deep grief over lives lost, Diane has never lost her faith that God called her to this life-transforming work. In these pages she'll show you that God is calling you to do something too. Maybe something that feels small . . . definitely something that will change the world.