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.

Despite the U.S Catholic Bishops' 1983 declaration that "insufficient analytical attention has been given to the moral issues of revolutionary warfare," theological scholarship has been slow to engage in systematic analysis of what makes a revolution ethical or unethical. Just Revolution: A Christian Ethic of Political Resistance and Social Transformation aims to address this lacuna. What principles and practices ought to guide people who want to free themselves from dictatorial or oppressive governments? With this question in mind, this book focuses on oppressed peoples as agents of their own processes of social transformation. The model of just revolution proposed endeavors to limit violence to do the least possible harm while overcoming political oppression, working toward a justice, and promoting long-term efforts at peacebuilding and sociopolitical reconciliation. Using the South African struggle against apartheid as a case study, Just Revolution posits an ethic for revolutionary activity that begins with nonviolent just peacemaking practices, allows for limited and restrained armed resistance in accordance with revised just war criteria, and promotes post-revolutionary transitional justice and social reconciliation. Together the practices and criteria that emerge from this study yield a rich and theologically grounded ethic of just revolution.

Will future generations find a church worth fighting for? A great reckoning is underway in the church today: a naming and exposing of the exclusivity, abuse, racism, patriarchy, and unchecked power that have marked evangelical Christianity for far too long. What kind of church will emerge on the other side? Like many families, the Beaches have been wrestling with this question. Together, Nancy and Samantha represent two generations: Nancy, a boomer, was a key player in the megachurch movement that revolutionized global ministry during the '80s and '90s, while Samantha, a millennial, is willing to abandon those massive buildings and celebrity cultures and find out whether the foundation holds. Each chapter offers their individual experiences and perspectives on a challenge facing the church and considers the way forward. Filled with deep introspection and keen insight, Next Sunday is a vulnerable conversation about what the church has been-and what it can be.

In Anton Boisen: Madness, Mysticism, and the Origins of Clinical Pastoral Education, Sean J. LaBat provides a critical re-assessment of Anton Boisen's life and work. Based in thorough archival research, LaBat argues that Boisen, who suffered from intermittent severe mental illness, was a creative visionary, a mystic who re-imagined pastoral care and envisioned possibilities for the institutionalized other than shame and stigma. He shows how Boisen elucidated new possibilities in patient-centered health care, community care for the mentally ill, and reconciliation and dialogue between religion and science. Boisen explored the borderland of madness and mysticism, illness and inspiration, and practiced an interdisciplinary approach to his craft that is surprisingly modern and more relevant to the practice of medicine and the practice of religion than ever before.

The American church is at a critical crossroads. Our witness has been compromised, our numbers are down, and our reputation has been sullied, due largely to our own faults and fears. The church's ethnocentrism, consumerism, and syncretism have blurred the lines between discipleship and partisanship. Pastor Eric Costanzo, missiologist Daniel Yang, and nonprofit leader Matthew Soerens find that for the church to return to health, we must decenter ourselves from our American idols and recenter on the undeniable, inalienable core reality of the global, transcultural kingdom of God. Our guides in this process are global Christians and the poor, who offer hope from the margins, and the ancient church, which survived through the ages amid temptations of power and corruption. Their witness points us to refocus on the kingdom of God, the image of God, the Word of God, and the mission of God. The path to the future takes us away from ourselves in unlikely directions. By learning from the global church and marginalized voices, we can return to our roots of being kingdom-focused, loving our neighbor, and giving of ourselves in missional service to the world.

An impressive study that prompts the reader toward philosophical reflection on the hermeneutics of melancholy in its relation to maturing theological understanding and cultivation of a profound self-consciousness. Melancholy has been interpreted as a deadly sin or demonic temptation to non-being, yet its history of interpretation reveals a progressive coming to terms with the dark mood that ultimately unveils it as the self's own ground and a trace of the abysmal nature of God. The book advances two provocative claims: that far from being a contingent condition, melancholy has been progressively acknowledged as constitutive of subjectivity as such, a trace of divine otherness and pathos, and that the effort to transcend melancholy-like Perseus vanquishing Medusa-is a necessary labor of maturing self-consciousness. Reductive attempts to eliminate it, besides being dangerously utopian, risk overcoming the labor of the soul that makes us human. This study sets forth a rigorous scholarly argument that spans several disciplines, including philosophy, theology, psychology, and literary studies.

Laudato Si', Pope Francis's historic encyclical on the environment, was issued in 2015. As the first encyclical devoted entirely to the environment and related social justice issues, it represented a watershed in the church's engagement with such urgent challenges as climate change, environmental degradation, and the fate of the poor. This volume joins the full text of Laudato Si' with reflections by Sean McDonagh, one of the foremost Catholic proponents of ecological awareness. Aside from reviewing the history of Catholic teaching and the environment, he elaborates on several of the specific themes in the encyclical-climate change, biodiversity, water scarcity, the threats to the ocean, and the crisis of food. He concludes with prescriptions about what must be done to turn the pope's vision into a program of effective action. Each of us has a role to play. As Pope Francis observes, "All it takes is one good person to restore hope."

Illustrates the hidden challenges embedded within the evangelical adoption movement. For over a decade, prominent leaders and organizations among American Evangelicals have spent a substantial amount of time and money in an effort to address what they believe to be the "Orphan Crisis" of the United States. Yet, despite an expansive commitment of resources, there is no reliable evidence that these efforts have been successful. Adoptions are declining across the board, and both foster parenting and foster-adoptions remain steady. Why have evangelical mobilization efforts been so ineffective? To answer this question, Samuel L. Perry draws on interviews with over 220 movement leaders and grassroots families, as well as national data on adoption and fostering, to show that the problem goes beyond orphan care. Perry argues that evangelical social engagement is fundamentally self-limiting and difficult to sustain because their subcultural commitments lock them into an approach that does not work on a practical level. Growing God's Family ultimately reveals this peculiar irony within American evangelicalism by exposing how certain aspects of the evangelical subculture may stimulate activism to address social problems, even while these same subcultural characteristics undermine their own strategic effectiveness. It provides the most recent analysis of dominant elements within the evangelical subculture and how that subculture shapes the engagement strategies of evangelicals as a group.

The Long Eighteenth Century was the Age of Revolutions, including the first sexual revolution. In this era, sexual toleration began and there was a marked increase in the discussion of morality, extra-marital sex, pornography and same-sex relationships in both print and visual culture media. William Gibson and Joanne Begiato here consider the ways in which the Church of England dealt with sex and sexuality in this period. Despite the backdrop of an increasingly secularising society, religion continued to play a key role in politics, family life and wider society and the eighteenth-century Church was still therefore a considerable force, especially in questions of morality. This book integrates themes of gender and sexuality into a broader understanding of the Church of England in the eighteenth century. It shows that, rather than distancing itself from sex through diminishing teaching, regulation and punishment, the Church not only paid attention to it, but its attitudes to sex and sexuality were at the core of society's reactions to the first sexual revolution.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has tackled many issues of urgent reform within the church. Mercy in Action explores Pope Francis's efforts to renewCatholic social teaching-the guidance the church offers on matters that pertain to social justice in the world. The book examines what Pope Francis has said, done, and written on six critical social issues today-economic inequality, worker justice, preserving the environment, healthy family life, the plight of refugees, and peacemaking. The book also highlights both continuity and change in Catholic social teaching. Author Thomas Massaro illustrates how on each social issue-from expressing solidarity with unemployed workers to writing an encyclical addressing environmental degradation and climate change-Pope Francis has worked to update the church's message of social justice and mercy.

Including both theoretical discussions and practical information for congregational use or pastoral use, this rich, accessible book explores biblical text, historical and theological issues of disability, and examples of successful ministry by people with disabilities. Disability, Faith, and the Church: Inclusion and Accommodation in Contemporary Congregations draws from a range of Christian theologians, denominational statements, writings of people with disabilities, and experiences of successful ministries for people with disabilities to answer the deep need of many Christian communities: to live out their calling by welcoming all people. By focusing on 20th- and 21st-century thinkers and political and religious practices, the book outlines best practices for congregations and supplies practical information that readers can apply in classroom or church settings. The author draws on thinkers from a variety of Christian traditions-including Roman Catholicism, Episcopalianism, Lutheranism, and the Reform traditions-to provide a theologically robust discussion that remains accessible to churchgoers without formal theological training. Emphasis is placed on connecting formal theological reflection and the experiences of ordinary people with disabilities to existing congregational practices and denominational statements, thereby enabling readers to decide on the best ways to successfully include people with disabilities into their communities within the rich and diverse Christian theological tradition. Engages a wide range of theological traditions and writings on disability within the Christian tradition Provides disability-focused readings of biblical texts relevant to disability studies, both as ecclesial resources and for classroom use Profiles individuals who are engaged in active ministry and church leadership while living with disabilities Includes straightforward analysis of complicated social issues like disability and reproductive rights

This book imagines new modes of religious response to trauma, moving beyond simple answers to the 'why' of human suffering toward discussions of profound expressions of faith in the aftermath of trauma. Engaging current realities such as war, race, and climate change, chapters feature specific locations from which theology is done and draw on the resources of Christian faith in order to respond. This volume recognizes religious leaders as first-responders to trauma and offers theological reflections that can stand up in the current realities of violence and its aftermath. The writings provide models for how to integrate the language of faith with the literature of trauma.

God does not suggest, he commands that we do justice. Social justice is not optional for the Christian. All injustice affects others, so talking about justice that isn't social is like talking about water that isn't wet or a square with no right angles. But the Bible's call to seek justice is not a call to superficial, kneejerk activism. We are not merely commanded to execute justice, but to "truly execute justice." The God who commands us to seek justice is the same God who commands us to "test everything" and "hold fast to what is good." Drawing from a diverse range of theologians, sociologists, artists, and activists, Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth, by Thaddeus Williams, makes the case that we must be discerning if we are to "truly execute justice" as Scripture commands. Not everything called "social justice" today is compatible with a biblical vision of a better world. The Bible offers hopeful and distinctive answers to deep questions of worship, community, salvation, and knowledge that ought to mark a uniquely Christian pursuit of justice. Topics addressed include: Racism Sexuality Socialism Culture War Abortion Tribalism Critical Theory Identity Politics Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth also brings in unique voices to talk about their experiences with these various social justice issues, including: Michelle-Lee Barnwall Suresh Budhaprithi Eddie Byun Freddie Cardoza Becket Cook Bella Danusiar Monique Duson Ojo Okeye Edwin Ramirez Samuel Sey Neil Shenvi Walt Sobchak In Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth, Thaddeus Williams transcends our religious and political tribalism and challenges readers to discover what the Bible and the example of Jesus have to teach us about justice. He presents a compelling vision of justice for all God's image-bearers that offers hopeful answers to life's biggest questions.

Catholic social teaching (CST) refers to the corpus of authoritative ecclesiastical teaching, usually in the form of papal encyclicals, on social matters, beginning with Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) and running through Pope Francis. CST is not a social science and its texts are not pragmatic primers for social activists. It is a normative exercise of Church teaching, a kind of comprehensive applied - although far from systematic - social moral theology. This volume is a scholarly engagement with this 130-year-old documentary tradition. Its twenty-three essays aim to provide a constructive, historically sophisticated, critical exegesis of all the major (and some of the minor) documents of CST. The volume's appeal is not limited to Catholics, or even just to those who embrace, or who are seriously interested in, Christianity. Its appeal is to any scholar interested in the history or content of modern CST.

The author presents a theoretical-practical training manual with effective tools for everyone, especially counselors to improve their spiritual growth. The Speed Method, integrating Lonergan's theory with the practice of counseling, becomes a concrete opportunity in view of a new spiritual springtime for the Church and human care.

Something is wrong in our society. Deeply wrong. The belief that all lives matter is at the heart of our founding documents--but we must admit that this conviction has never truly reflected reality in America. Movements such as Black Lives Matter have arisen in response to recent displays of violence and mistreatment, and some of us defensively answer back, "All lives matter." But do they? Really? This book is an exploration of that question. It delves into history and current events, into Christian teaching and personal stories, in order to start a conversation about the way forward. Its raw but hopeful words will help move us from apathy to empathy and from empathy to action. We cannot do everything. But we can each do something.

This book is the product of dialogue between a group of leading British Muslim and Christian scholars concerned about the alleged danger to the 'West' of Islamic 'fundamentalism'. It analyses the ethical and legal principles, rooted in both traditions, underlying any use of armed force in the modern world. After chapters on the history, theology and laws of war as seen from both sides, the book applies its conclusions to (a) the 1990-91 Gulf War and (b) the Bosnian Conflict. It concludes that Huntington's 'Clash of Civilisations' thesis is a dangerous myth.