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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Christian theology > General
God is unbounded. God became flesh. While these two assertions are
equally viable parts of Western Christian religious heritage, they
stand in tension with one another. Fearful of reducing God's
majesty with shallow anthropomorphisms, philosophy and religion
affirm that God, as an eternal being, stands wholly apart from
creation. Yet the legacy of the incarnation complicates this view
of the incorporeal divine, affirming a very different image of God
in physical embodiment. While for many today the idea of an
embodied God seems simplisticaeven pedestrianaChristoph Markschies
reveals that in antiquity, the educated and uneducated alike
subscribed to this very idea. More surprisingly, the idea that God
had a body was held by both polytheists and monotheists. Platonic
misgivings about divine corporeality entered the church early on,
but it was only with the advent of medieval scholasticism that the
idea that God has a body became scandalous, an idea still lingering
today. In God's Body Markschies traces the shape of the divine form
in late antiquity. This exploration follows the development of
ideas of God's corporeality in Jewish and Greco-Roman traditions.
In antiquity, gods were often like humans, which proved to be
important for philosophical reflection and for worship. Markschies
considers how a cultic environment nurtured, and transformed,
Jewish and Christian descriptions of the divine, as well as how
philosophical debates over the connection of body and soul in
humanity provided a conceptual framework for imagining God.
Markschies probes the connections between this lively culture of
religious practice and philosophical speculation and the
christological formulations of the church to discover how the
dichotomy of an incarnate God and a fleshless God came to be. By
studying the religious and cultural past, Markschies reveals a
Jewish and Christian heritage alien to modern sensibilities, as
well as a God who is less alien to the human experience than much
of Western thought has imagined. Since the almighty God who made
all creation has also lived in that creation, the biblical idea of
humankind as image of God should be taken seriously and not
restricted to the conceptual world but rather applied to the whole
person.
Evangelicalism has left its indelible mark on American history,
politics, and culture. It is also true that currents of American
populism and politics have shaped the nature and character of
evangelicalism. This story of evangelicalism in America is thus
riddled with paradox. Despite the fact that evangelicals, perhaps
more than any other religious group, have benefited from the First
Amendment and the separation of church and state, several prominent
evangelical leaders over the past half century have tried to
abrogate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. And
despite evangelicalism's legacy of concern for the poor, for women,
and for minorities, some contemporary evangelicals have repudiated
their own heritage of compassion and sacrifice stemming from Jesus'
command to love the least of these. In Evangelicalism in America
Randall Balmer chronicles the history of evangelicalismaits origins
and development as well as its diversity and contradictions. Within
this lineage Balmer explores the social varieties and political
implications of evangelicalism's inception as well as its present
and paradoxical relationship with American culture and politics.
Balmer debunks some of the cherished myths surrounding this
distinctly American movement while also prophetically speaking
about its future contributions to American life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906a1945) remains one of the most enigmatic
figures of the twentieth century. His life evokes fascination,
eliciting attention from a wide and diverse audience. Bonhoeffer is
rightly remembered as theologian and philosopher, ethicist and
political thinker, wartime activist and resister, church leader and
pastor, martyr and saint. These many sides to Bonhoeffer do not
give due prominence to the aspect of his life that wove all the
disparate parts into a coherent whole: Bonhoeffer as preacher. In
Dietrich: Bonhoeffer and the Theology of a Preaching Life Michael
Pasquarello traces the arc of Bonhoeffer's public career,
demonstrating how, at every stage, Bonhoeffer focused upon
preaching, both in terms of its ecclesial practice and the theology
that gave it life. Pasquarello chronicles a period of
preparationaBonhoeffer's study of Luther and Barth, his struggleto
reconcile practical ministry with preaching, andhis discovery of
preaching's ethic of resistance. Next Pasquarello describes
Bonhoeffer's maturation as a preacherahis crafting a homiletic
theology, as well as preaching's relationship to politics and
public confession. Pasquarello follows Bonhoeffer's forced
itinerancy until he became, ultimately, a preacher without any
congregation at all. In the end, Bonhoeffer's life was his best
sermon. Dietrich presents Bonhoeffer as an exemplar in the
preaching tradition of the church. His exercise of theological and
homiletical wisdom in particular times, places, and
circumstancesaBerlin, Barcelona, Harlem, London,
Finkenwaldeareveals the particular kind of intellectual, spiritual,
and moral formation required for faithful, concrete witness to the
gospel in the practice of proclamation, both then and now.
Bonhoeffer's story as a pastor and teacher of preachers provides a
historical example of how the integration of theology and ministry
is the fruit of wisdom cultivated through a life of discipleship
with others in prayer, study, scriptural meditation, and mutual
service.
The Psalms, gritty and bold prayers of a people seeking to be
obedient to a powerful and compassionate God, collectively
illustrate what a real faith in the living God looks like. In
Psalms as a Grammar for Faith: Prayer and Praise , W. H. Bellinger
Jr. traces the way the Psalms exemplify and create a grammar for
living a life of faith. Bellinger combines his years of study of
the Psalms and his own theological sensibility to explore both the
genre and shape of the Psalter. He focuses upon the themes of
lament and of praise. Bellinger addresses the presence of enemies
andtheprayers for vengeance throughout the Psalms, concluding that
these lamentations exemplify a covenant theology of prayer.He then
examines thepsalms of praisethatteach the art of worship. Various
kinds of praise in the Psalter serve as examplesofadorationaproper
ways to thank almighty God forthe goodness of life and for the
divine mystery. Finally, Bellinger explores the five divisions of
the Psalms, arguing for a powerful and intentional anthology
initially connected to ancient Israel's encounter with defeat and
exile. Bellinger concludes that the Psalter directs readers to use
the psalms of lament and praise as models for life, depending on
God's justice in times of anger, singingGod'spraise in times of
thanksgiving, and always acknowledging God as Lord over hardships
and blessings. Only in this way, he argues,can humans live the
faith of the Psalmsaa faith defined by complete dependence on God.
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Numbers
(Paperback)
David L. Stubbs; Edited by (general) R. Reno; Series edited by Robert Jenson, Robert Wilken, Ephraim Radner, …
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R625
Discovery Miles 6 250
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Ships in 7 - 11 working days
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This ninth volume in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible
offers a theological exegesis of Numbers. This commentary, like
each in the series, is designed to serve the church--through aid in
preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate
the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological
interpretation of the Bible. "The Brazos Theological Commentary
exists to provide an accessible authority so that the preacher's
application will be a ready bandage for all the hurts of life. The
Brazos Commentary offers just the right level of light to make
illuminating the word the joy it was meant to be."--Calvin Miller,
author of A Hunger for the Holy and Loving God Up Close
This is an introduction to African Christian ethics for Christian
colleges and Bible schools. The book is divided into two parts. The
first part deals with the theory of ethics, while the second
discusses practical issues. The issues are grouped into the
following six sections: Socio-Political Issues, Financial Issues,
Marriage Issues, Sexual Issues, Medical Issues, and Religious
Issues. Each section begins with a brief general introduction,
followed by the chapters dealing with specific issues in that area.
Each chapter begins with an introduction, discusses traditional
African thinking on the issue, presents an analysis of relevant
biblical material, and concludes with some recommendations. There
are questions at the end of each chapter for discussion or personal
reflection, often asking students to reflect on how the discussion
in the chapter applies to their ministry situation.
C.S. Lewis's famous work on the nature of love divides love into
four categories: Affection, Friendship, Eros and Charity. The first
three are loves which come naturally to the human race. Charity,
however, the Gift-love of God, is divine in its source and
expression, and without the sweetening grace of this supernatural
love, the natural loves become distorted and even dangerous.
In the late sixteenth century, after the Council of Trent and the
Catholic Reformation, the confessional became a key means to
improve morals and religious life - and, for the Catholic clergy of
New Spain, a new avenue through which they might reach the
consciences of Spaniards and improve their treatment of indigenous
peoples. To this end, the bishops of the province of Mexico drafted
a directorio in 1585 to guide the priesthood in fulfilling its duty
according to current ecclesiastical ideals and social realities.
That document, published here in English for the first time, offers
an unrivaled view of the religious, social, and economic history of
colonial Mexico. Though never widely circulated, the Directorio
para confesores (Directory for Confessors) contains an encyclopedic
description of life in Mexico three generations after the European
invasion. In addition to summarizing sixteenth-century Spanish
concerns in the provinces, the Directory offers insight into the
Catholic Church's moral judgments on many aspects of colonial life.
Translated by distinguished scholar Stafford Poole, the document
embodies a remarkable knowledge of scripture and law and reflects
the concerns of the Spanish crown and what was happening in New
Spain. The Directory instructs its clergy audience in the proper
methods to combat superstition among the Spaniards, helps them
navigate the variety of business contracts used in Creole society
at the time, and details the obligations of those in various social
stations, from viceroys to tavern keepers. It also condemns the
forced labor of native people under the repartimiento system,
especially in the mines. Rendered in clear prose and illuminated
with helpful introductory chapters by Poole and John F. Schwaller,
extensive annotations, and a glossary of terms, this volume offers
unparalleled insights into life and thought in sixteenth-century
New Spain.
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