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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Christian theology > General
An international team of scholars address the theology and practice
of peacebuilding.
"Peacebuilding" refers to a range of topics, ranging from
conflict prevention to post-conflict reconciliation. In this volume
a strong cast of Catholic theologians, ethicists, and
scholar-practitioners join to examine the challenge of
peacebuilding in theory and practice. While many of the essays deal
with general themes of reconciliation, forgiveness, interreligious
dialogue, and human rights, there are also case studies of
peacebuilding in such diverse contexts as Colombia, the
Philippines, the Great Lakes region of Africa, Indonesia, and South
Africa. This volume will be of interest to all scholars engaged in
developing a theology and ethic of just peace, as well as students
seeking to understand the interaction between theology, ethics, and
lived Christianity.
Contributors include: John Paul Lederach; Maryann Cusimano
Love; Daniel Philpott; William Headley and Reina Neufeldt; Todd
Whitmore; Peter-John Pearson; Thomas Michel; Kenneth Himes; Lisa
Sowle Cahill; Peter Phan; and David O'Brien.
The church engages in mission as it is formed and transformed by
the triune God whose nature is missional. If the church is not
motivated by foundational, theological convictions, the church can
blindly run toward 'cool' trends instead of focusing on God's
purposes. In Missio Dei, the authors guide their readers through
reflections on a biblical and theological understanding of God's
mission, while pointing out ways in which we can participate in the
mission of God.Missio Dei contains essays by several church
leaders, including Ron Benefiel, Thomas A. Noble, Douglas S. Hardy,
and Roger L. Hahn. Edited by Keith Schwanz and Joseph Coleson, this
book reveals a clear understanding of what it means to be the
missional church and participants in the Missio Dei.
One of the major works of the great German theologian Emil Brunner,
The Divine Imperative deals with what we ought to do. People are
unconvinced that there is an inviolable moral obligation governing
human life because they do not believe that the 'good' can be
precisely and clearly known. Haven't some generations called bad
what others have called good? Aren't moral standards relative?
Doesn't religion lack uniform and practical moral guidance? Brunner
discusses the moral confusion we face. He analyses the nature of
the Good, showing why the Christian faith as understood by the
Protestant Reformers provides the only true approach and answer to
the ethical problem. Philosophical ethics, whether ancient or
modern, cannot correctly define the Good, because the Good is
regarded either as too abstract and absolute or as too concrete and
relative. Christianity, by contrast, sees the moral problem as one
of responsibility between humans who are created so as to respond
to God. He created men for responsive fellowship with Him,
establishing orderly ways of acting in the world. Correct
understanding of the nature of society, family, state, economic
life, is needed to discern one's duty. Because Brunner's analysis
is at once fundamental and comprehensive, this book remains a fresh
and compelling treatment of the moral problem. It offers a
provocative discussion and solution of a perennial human problem.
John Wesley's most representative collection on Christian
Perfection. ' Now let this perfection appear in its native form,
and who can speak one word against it? Will any dare to speak
against loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and our
neighbor as ourselves? Against a renewal of heart, not only in
part, but in the whole image of God? Who is he that will open his
mouth against being cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and
spirit; or against having all the mind that was in Christ, and
walking in all things as Christ walked? What man, who calls himself
a Christian, has the hardiness to object to the devoting, not a
part, but all our soul, body, and substance to God?'
The papacy is clearly the greatest difficulty facing ecumenical
dialogue today, and particularly the dialogue between Catholicism
and Orthodoxy. Yet there is a doorway of hope. In his encyclical,
Ut unum sint, John Paul II expressed a desire for common reflection
on the exercise of papal primacy. In You Are Peter the great
Orthodox theologian Olivier Clement brilliantly responds to this
request. He emphasizes the history and experience of the undivided
Church, before recalling the contrasting developments of eastern
and western Christianity and concluding with the tasks that call us
to unity. Professor Clements response to John Paul II is] solidly
rooted in the Orthodox tradition, and] represents the cordial and
open mentality characteristic of the theologians of Saint Sergius.
I would judge that it is almost exactly the kind of response for
which Pope John Paul II was hoping. It is a pleasure to be able to
present to English-speaking readers this concise, learned, and
articulate presentation.... Professor Clements contribution ... is
a sign of the progress in ecumenism] thus far made and a beacon of
hope for the future. From the Foreword by Avery Cardinal Dulles,
S.J. Laurence J. McGinley Professor Fordham University, New York
There is an increased interest in spirituality in our world lately.
People have a deep hunger and thirst towards something that
transcends them.In Spiritual Formation, Maddix and LeClerc provide
a definition of Christian spiritual formation within the Wesleyan
paradigm and how faithful disciples can grow in their relationship
with Jesus Christ. In simple terms, this book explains that
Spiritual formation refers to the transformation of people into,
what C.S. Lewis calls, 'little Christs.' The book focuses on how
people can grow in Christlikeness by participating in reading of
Scripture, the means of grace, the sacraments, and spiritual
disciplines. It also provides guidance in matter of self-care,
spiritual direction, and mentoring, while displaying practical
guidelines for adolescents, families, and college students.
New Testament I and II represents Vol. I/15 and I/16 in the Works
of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. The present
volume contains the translations of four works, all of which are
exegetical treatises of one sort or another: The Lord's Sermon on
the Mount, Agreement among the Evangelists, Questions on the
Gospels and Seventeen Questions on Matthew. Each of the four works
are accompanied by its own introduction, general index, and
scripture index. The Lord's Sermon on the Mount (translated by
Michael Campbell, OSA) is an exegesis of chapters five through
seven of Matthew's Gospel, but Augustine's explanation of the
Sermon is more a charter of Christian morality and spirituality
than mere exegesis of the text and brings a unity to the lengthy
discourse that goes far beyond an account of what the text says.
Augustine wrote Agreement among the Evangelists in 400,
contemporaneously with the composition of his Confessions (397 -
401).The treatise, translated by Kim Paffenroth, is an attempt to
defend the veracity of the four evangelists in the face of seeming
incompatibilities in their record of the gospel events, especially
against some pagan philosophers who raised objections to the gospel
narratives based on alleged inconsistencies. Questions on the
Gospels and Seventeen Questions on Matthew are translated by Roland
Teske, SJ. Questions on the Gospels is a record of questions that
arose when Augustine was reading the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
with a disciple. The answers to the questions are not intended to
be commentaries on the Gospels in their entirety but merely
represent the answers to the questions that arose for the student
at the time. Seventeen Questions on Matthew is similarly in the
question-and-answer genre and is most likely by Augustine, but it
includes some paragraphs at the end that are certainly not his. For
all those who are interested in the greatest classics of Christian
antiquity, Augustine's works are indispensable. This long-awaited
translation makes Augustine's monumental work approachable.ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is one of the greatest
thinkers and writers of the Western world. After he converted to
Christianity he became bishop of Hippo in North Africa, where he
was influential in civil and church affairs. His writings have had
a lasting impact on Western philosophy and culture.
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