In Jesus Is My Uncle, Luis Pedraja examines Christology and the doctrine of God from a Hispanic perspective, emphasizing the role played by language and experience. This volume provides a unique perspective and promotes a deeper understanding of Hispanic theology and, by inference, other theologies as well.

Living in the cultural borderlands, an important aspect of the Hispanic experience is the languages used: Spanish and English. Pedraja examines how the way Hispanics speak about Jesus and God in Spanish creates different theological imagery than speaking in English does. All languages are laden with affections, nuances, and images that enhance the meaning of certain words. Since languages reflect and affect our theology, how one speaks about God provides a window into theology and unconsciously affects the way one thinks about God.

What do you want to know about the work of the Holy Spirit in this century? In "1,001 Things You Always Wanted to Know About the Holy Spirit," J. Stephen Lang provides information on people such as Dennis Bennett, Aimee Semple McPherson, C. Peter Wagner, and John Wimber as well as insight into movements such as the Azusa Street Revival, the growth of the Assemblies of God, the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship, the Keswick Convention, and the 1973 Notre Dame Conference. From Scripture songs to glossolalia, Charismatics to Pentecostals, this browse book is filled with important-and sometimes offbeat-information about what the Holy Spirit has (and has not) been doing in the twentieth century.

By challenging some of the most cherished theological beliefs to emerge within black Christian communities, this text encourages us to extend the range of our religious world views and embrace black cultural expressions that have been ignored or despised. Anthony Pinn explores theological texts, preaching, folklore, spirituals, blues and rap to look at beliefs held within the African American community that contribute to the suffering of its members and to unleash a tradition of African American humanism.

Why is it that many Christians find a theological-scientific debate about creation's ancient origins far more engaging than a speech about how to live responsibly in the creation today? Are we more fascinated by academic debates that focus our gaze on what happened long ago than by the hands-on discussions that focus our gaze on the world of wonders outside our windows right now? In Remember Creation, Scott Hoezee challenges readers to make today's world more central to the Christian faith by enjoying and preserving God's cosmos as a part of daily discipleship. Solidly grounded in a wealth of Scripture passages, this book reveals God's "ecology of praise," which all Christians should want to explore and preserve. Throughout the book Hoezee also offers suggestions to help congregations, families, and all Christians to take more delight in God's world while working to keep alive the wonders that bring God joy. "Scott Hoezee adds a refreshing new twist to the discussion on the environment: Shouldn't we start by simply enjoying creation and honoring it for what it is? With illustrations both biblical and personal, Hoezee makes a compelling case." - Philip Yancey

Langdon Gilkey's account of his experiences as a witness for the ACLU at the 1981 creationist trial in Little Rock, Arkansas. The book brings to life principal characters and anecdotes from the trial and translates the abstract religious concepts of the case into digestable language.

Otherness is a dominant motif in contemporary thought from the realm of science to the arts, and the otherness of God is likewise a major theme of current philosophical and religious thought. This volume offers essays on the nature of God and the fundamental tasks of philosophy and theology written by internationally recognized thinkers in the distinct fields of philosophy, religious studies, and theology.

The Otherness of God traces the lineage of its theme from Plato and Aristotle through Neoplatonic, medieval, and Renaissance expression, and on through Reformation thought and German idealism to dialectical theology and deconstruction. In spite of a variety of approaches, the contributors all recognize that one may still think theologically -- indeed, must do so -- even when one fundamentally challenges the very conceptualization of the nature of the divine that has traditionally dominated metaphysical theism. This provocative collection, drawn primarily from an interdisciplinary conference at the University of Virginia, should attract those interested in the philosophy of religion, the history of philosophy and theology, and the theological interpretation of secular culture.

Adams argues that much of the discussion in analytic philosophy or religion over the last forty years has offered too narrow an understanding of the problem. The ground rules accepted for the discussion have usually led philosophers to avert their gaze from the worst "horrendous" evils and their devastating impact on human lives. They have agreed to debate the issue on the basis of religion-neutral values, and have focused on morals, an approach that -- Adams claims -- is inadequate for formulating and solving the problem of horrendous evils. She emphasizes instead the fruitfulness of other evaluative categories such as purity and defilement, honor and shame, and aesthetics.

If redirected, philosophical reflection on evil can, Adams's book demonstrates, provide a valuable approach not only to theories of God and evil but also to pastoral care.

In this book of reflections, Rowell encourages readers to pay attention, because we often find God in unusual places. He reflects on how we often miss God in the usual places such as the Bible, church, or home.

Where did the Holy Trinity originate as a doctrine? Why did this doctrine develop? How can Christians speak of God as three persons and also worship one God? In "The College Student's Introduction to the Trinity, " Lynne Lorenzen examines how the doctrine of the Trinity has been interpreted in Eastern Christianity, Western Christianity, and by contemporary theologians including feminists and process theologians.

In Western Christianity the doctrine of the Trinity is an enigma. On the one hand, this doctrine is the foundation of liturgical worship. On the other hand, many Western Christians have focused theology and faith on the person of Jesus to the exclusion of any other theological categories. For these believers the doctrine of the Trinity has become divorced from the doctrine of salvation, soteriology; from the doctrine of the church, ecclesiology; and from how Christians understand what it means for Jesus to be the Christ, christology. For most believers this disjunction is so great as to make them wonder why, aside from tradition, theologians insist on speaking of the Trinity at al. That many theologians have not sensed this need to relate theology to the Trinity also indicates the breadth of the divorce.

In "The College Student's Introduction to the Trinity," Lynne Lorenzen examines the development of the separation of the Trinity from the rest of Christian theology, how it began with Augustine and continued in the Western tradition. One solution that she describes is for the Western Christian to rediscover the original function of the doctrine of the Trinity as integrating soteriology, christology, and the doctrine of God, to develop a doctrine that will reauthenticate the Trinity, and, above al, to integrate these doctrines in a doctrine of the Trinity for the West.

Lorenzen discusses four resources needed for a reauthenticated Western doctrine: orthodoxy, the theology of the pre-Augustinian tradition of the Christian Church that is currently still practiced in the Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches; the work of Jurgen Moltmann and his understanding that the Trinity includes christology and soteriology as foundational; feminism, which understands salvation occurs here and now and is the work of al creation; and process theology, which provides a metaphysics that describes how God relates with the world to bring about salvation. The work concludes by constructing a doctrine of the Trinity out of these resources.

Chapters are The Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity," "The Western Doctrine of the Trinity," "Recent Formulations of the Augustinian Tradition," "Non-Augustinian Formulations in the Western Tradition," "The Doctrine of the Trinity by Jurgen Moltmann," "Feminism and the Doctrine of the Trinity," "Process Theologians and the Trinity," and "reauthenticated Doctrine of the Trinity."

"Lynne Faber Lorenzen, PhD, is associate professor of religion at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, and president of the American Academy of Religion upper Midwest region.""

Following an insightful evaluation of the Gospel evidence, Clifford concludes that the kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus is a reality in the light of which we have to come to terms with the modern world-a world where natural catastrophes and humanly created disasters are common occurrences.

Karen Baker-Fletcher here seeks to recover and renew that strong historic tie of black peoples to the land, sometimes broken by migration and urbanization. Cultivating the ecological side of black womanism, she combines a keen awareness of environmental racism with reflection on her own journey and a constructive theological vision. She works the biblical and literary metaphors of dust and spirit to address the embodiment of God, Spirit, Christ, creation, and humans and to fashion a powerful justice-oriented spirituality of creation.

Baker-Fletcher evinces a strong sense of God in nature, and its earnest, reflective character makes this small volume ideal for individual, adult study, or classroom use.

Where does God s revelation reside, in the event or in the interpretation? If history is about the creation of meaning, what does it mean to say that God reveals God s self in history? Those who take seriously scripture as revelatory must wrestle with such fundamental questions and their far-reaching implications. Dan Via addresses these and related issues in this original volume. The title of the book, particularly the and/as, demands exposition. To speak of God s revelation and human reception is to suggest that God s self-disclosure is something other than and prior to the human response that it elicits. To speak of God s self-manifestation as human reception is to suggest that revelation does not occur apart from the specific ways in which it is received by human beings and that human response is in fact, a positive and constitutive factor in the actualization of revelation. In brief, then, this book is a study of what several New Testament writers understand by the revelation of God to humankind, including both the and and the as. An opening chapter sketches in a selective way a provisional definition of revelation that embraces a horizon reaching back into neo-orthodoxy while also coming close to the present. Then follow chapters on the word as content and the elusive historical element, including the place of the historical Jesus in revelation; a discussion of Paul based on 2 Cor. 2:14-4:15, with special reference to the four elements of the revelation situation; the use of the historical setting of Mark as a constituent of actualized revelation for all four Gospels followed by similar chapters on Mathew and John. A concluding chapter redescribes the four constituent elements of the revelation situation and relects on some of their interrelationships. Here, then, is a resourceful and thorough study of an important issue in New Testament and systematic theology, and one that takes human action and reception into full account. Dan O. Via is Emeritus Professor of New Testament as Duke University Divinity School and author of Self-Deception and Wholeness in Paul and Matthew.

This compelling book addresses important questions on the meaning of suffering: Why must we suffer? Does suffering have a purpose? How can we grow through our suffering to find peace, and give peace to others? O'Malley suggests that while reflection and introspection cannot in themselves give meaning to suffering, suffering that is beyond our control can be transformed through action.

Throughout the centuries the church has taught that the vast majority of humankind will suffer eternal punishment. But is this teaching truly biblical? In this provocative book Jan Bonda scrutinizes church tradition and Scripture -- especially Paul's letter to the Romans -- and concludes that neither Paul nor the prophets to whom he appeals show any trace of supporting the doctrine of eternal damnation. On the contrary, they tell us that God wants to save all people and that he will not rest until that goal has been achieved.

Thomas P. Flint develops and defends the idea of divine providence sketched by Luis de Molina, the 16th-century Jesuit theologian. The Molinist account of divine providence reconciles two claims thought to be incompatible: that God is the all-knowing governor of the universe and that individual freedom can prevail only in a universe free of absolute determinism. The Molinist concept of middle knowledge holds that God knows, though he has no control over, truths about how any individual would freely choose to act in any situation, even if the person never encounters that situation. Given such knowledge, God can be truly providential while leaving his creatures genuinely free.

"This outstanding book . . . is a genuinely pivotal contribution to the lively current debate over divine foreknowledge and human freedom. . . . Hasker's book has three commendable features worthy of immediate note. First, it contains a carefully crafted overview of the recent literature on foreknowledge and freedom and so can serve as an excellent introduction to that literature. Second, it is tightly reasoned and brimming with brisk arguments, many of them highly original. Third, it correctly situates the philosophical dispute over foreknowledge and freedom within its proper theological context and in so doing highlights the intimate connection between the doctrines of divine omniscience and divine providence." Faith and Philosophy" God, Time, and Knowledge] is an elegantly written, forcefully argued challenge to traditional views, and a major contribution to the discussion of divine foreknowledge." Philosophical Review"This is a very competent, thorough analysis of the conflict between free will and divine foreknowledge (or, on some acounts, timeless divine knowledge of our future). It is exceptionally clear." Theological Book Review"

This book's title conveys its general premise, that is, that the quest for the historical Jesus has always been closely related to the Christian search for God. The author says that this is both good and necessary, provided that one properly understands the relationship between history and theology ("the Jesus of history" and "the Christ of faith") and does not confuse the two. An opening chapter explains the history of the quest for the historical Jesus and how it has always been related to the search for God. It also proposes a scheme for understanding the relationship between history and theology. The remaining chapters focus on various aspects of Jesus' life and teachings, related in large measure to the work of the Jesus Seminar. Patterson also develops a theology that might properly be called a "Jesus theology," and it is here that his input to the discussions of and about Jesus makes its most distinctive contribution. The accessible style of writing in the book makes it useful for lay study groups. It is also suitable for college and seminary classrooms as a beginning book on the historical Jesus. Stephen J. Patterson is Associate Professor of New Testament at Eden Theological Seminary and author of The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus.

An invitation to step into the open spaces where the wind of God's Spirit is blowing. It demonstrates that renewal is not a hobby for Christians to enjoy in privacy, but means being driven out on the Cavalry road, public rejection, private struggles, and an encounter with the wonder of God.

Everyone understands human pain. But many Christians have difficulty comprehending God's pain, especially God's pain in the death of Christ. Is it atonement or child abuse? To speak of God in pain, says Barbara Brown Taylor, is not only to address the biblical stories of Christ's suffering and death, but also to proclaim the God who is present in our pain. This volume of teaching sermons on suffering presents different approaches to the problem of God in pain. In each sermon, Taylor speaks with sensitivity and profound insight as she addresses pain and both its human and divine impact.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: Pain of Life: The Gift of Disillusionment; A Cure for Despair; Learning to Hate Your Family; Divine Anger; Feeding the Enemy; The Betrayer in Our Midst; Buried by Baptism; The Suffering Cup; Pick Up Your Cross; Unless a Grain Falls; The Dress Rehearsal; Surviving Crucifixion; Portents and Signs; and The Delivery Room. Part II: Pain of Death: Believing What We Cannot Understand; Someone to Blame; The Triumphant Victim; The Myth of Redemptive Violence; The Silence of God; The Will of God; The Suffering of God; May He Not Rest in Peace.

BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR, an Episcopal priest in the diocese of Atlanta, holds the Butman Chair in Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. She is widely sought after as a preacher and guest lecturer, and is the author of five books, including Preaching Life and Bread of Angels.She was named by Baylor University as one of the 12 most effective preachers in the English language.

Something quite extraordinary has happened in Catholic trinitarian theology in the last thirty years or so: the mystery of the Trinity is being approached by reflection on the paschal mystery of Jesus' death and resurrection. Astonishing though it may seem, the traditional Augustinian-Thomistic treatment of the trinity made no such direct reference to those Easter events, even though it was through them that Jesus' disciples came to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The redemptive significance of Jesus' death and resurrection was clearly recognized, but not its revelatory significance. But here, in a radically new development, the death and resurrection of Jesus is perceived to have properly theological" meaning; it is not just redemptive but revelatory of God's being. A startling revitalized trinitarian theology emerges. "So what does this development contribute to trinitarian theology?" And "Why has this extraordinary development arisen at this stage in the tradition?" The Trinity and the Paschal Mystery answers these questions and examines and assesses this new development in relation to the classical tradition of trinitarian theology and offers a meta-methodological perspective from which to understand it. One of the few theologians who have pursued this innovative line of thought, Anne Hunt in The Trinity and the Paschal Mystery analyzes the works of four contemporary theologians. Francois Durrwell, CSSR,Ghislain Lafont, OSB, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Sebastian Moore, OSB, have all written on this interconnection of the mysteries. Each expressed dissatisfaction with classical Latin trinitarian theology and sought a fuller, richer, and more adequate explication of the mystery. A vividly revitalized theology of the Trinity results, one that is constructed in a distinctly soteriological context. But the trinitarian theology which emerges is not only a soteriology. The triune God emerges with a distinctively "paschal character" when approached in this way and this profoundly affects an understanding of the divine perfections. Both aspects represent significant gains in the contemporary cultural and theological context. The Trinity and the Paschal Mystery is not only significant on a systematic and methodological level, it is also timely. Recent trinitarian theologies (e.g., LaCugna, Johnson, Boff, Weinandy, Coffey) do not deal with the Trinity-paschal mystery connection. Orthodox theology has very little to say about it. Protestant theology has difficulty relating to the classical Roman Catholic tradition. From all these points of view, The Trinity and the Paschal Mystery provides this perspective and so is a valuable and thought-provoking resource that complements and enriches current theologies of the Trinity. As a text for college or graduate student courses, as a scholarship reference, and as a guide for interested educated laity, The Trinity and the Paschal Mystery is an exhilarating and invigorating journey into that most central of the Christian mysteries, our triune God. Chapters are: "Francois X. Durrwell: The Resurrection Rediscovered," "Ghislain Lafont: Death and Being, Human and Divine," "Hans Urs von Balthasar: Love Alone Is Credible," "Sebastian Moore: The Grass Roots Derivation of the Trinity," "Thematic Gains for Trinitarian Theology," and "Methodological Shifts and Their Meta-Methodological Significance." Anne Hunt is principal at Loreto Mandeville Hall, a Catholic girls' school in Melbourne, Australia. She received a doctorate in systematic theology at Yarra Theological Union, Melbourne.

The innovative strategies, scathing attacks, and lasting impact that marked a sweeping critique of traditional Christian thought

"An important contribution to scholarship on rhetoric and religion because it examines the role of reason and evidence in issues dividing the Deists and Anglicans in matters of Christian spirituality. It sheds light on the role that style and evidence -- especially ridicule and testimony -- played in the controversy". -- Lester C. Olson, University of Pittsburgh

The Radical Rhetoric of the English Deists illuminates the major battlefields of a rhetorical war waged for the religious mind of Britain and eventually of Europe and the colonies. Focusing on the works of lesser-known but highly influential Deists whose radically controversial spirit and willingness to absorb enormous personal risks made Deist controversy so intriguing and consequential, lames A. Herrick examines the seventy-year polemic between the English Deists and the Church of England. He contends that Deism owes its enduring significance to the rhetorical acumen, textual resources, and iconoclastic motivation of skilled controversialists who sought nothing less than the destruction of Christianity.

God's beauty is omnipresent, particularly in the Scriptures, in the liturgy, and in human friendship. In"Enjoying God's Beauty," Father Navone discusses how to find God in the beauty of the world and in all of God's creation.

The joy of seeing the beauty of God in our lives - the eye of love" that is Christian faith and "the look of love" that is Christian contemplation beholding the Beloved in all things - is at the heart of Christian life. In "Enjoying God's Beauty," Father Navone provides an overview of the Christian experience of God's beauty in all things.

"Enjoying God's Beauty" focuses on three approaches to the Christian experience of beauty. The first approach to enjoying God's beauty follows the assumption that wherever there is Christian life, there is Christian Vision and action. The second approach revolves around the Church's Scriptures. Father Navone focuses on the Church's invitation to contemplate in its scriptural iconography true images of God, ourselves, and the world. The third approach involves our experience of life in the Church. Father Navone focuses on the theologies of beauty of Thomas Aquinas and Jonathan Edwards based on their experience within the community of Christian faith. Finally, he examines the healing and integrating Spirit of God's love within the Church and the world and how it invites reflection on the universal scope of Beauty Itself (God).

Just as there is no joy without love, there is no contemplation without beauty. In "Enjoying God's Beauty," Father Navone shows that the power of beauty moves us to gaze with love upon the Beloved, an act in the Christian faith better known as contemplation.

Chapters are "Windows on Beauty," *In a Glass Darkly, - *Beauty Begets Beauty, - *Time to Enjoy, - *To Enjoy Is to Glorify, - *The Look of Love, - *The 'Beautiful' Shepherd, - *Scriptural Icons, - *Sight to the Blind, - *Predestined for Glory, - *Edwards and Aquinas, - *Beauty in Liturgy, - and *Radiant Spirit. -

John Navone, SJ, is Professor of Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome and at the Gonzaga University summer school. He has written three other books published by Liturgical Press: "Toward a Theology of Beauty, Seeking God in Story, " and "Self-Giving and Sharing: The Trinity and Human Fulfillment.""

The biblical Jubilee that was celebrated once every fifty years is referred to in Leviticus 25 as the "Sabbath of Sabbaths". Its requirements included that the land lie fallow, all debts be forgiven, captives be freed, and a celebration held. Maria Harris considers the implications of a living Jubilee for today and for the next century. She offers a compelling argument that a living Jubilee is a comprehensive spirituality that would have a positive political, economic, and moral impact on individuals, families, religious congregations, institutions, and nations.