This book, first published in 1978, introduces readers to the topic of the philosophy of religious education in a way which demands little philosophical expertise on their part. It puts forward a particular theory of religious education in such a way that most of the major questions are faced and sufficient answers given to enable readers to examine the theory critically, and so further the development of philosophy and education.

Luke and the Politics of Homeric Imitation: Luke-Acts as Rival to the Aeneid argues that the author of Luke-Acts composed not a history but a foundation mythology to rival Vergil's Aeneid by adopting and ethically emulating the cultural capital of classical Greek poetry, especially Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Euripides's Bacchae. For example, Vergil and, more than a century later, Luke both imitated Homer's account of Zeus's lying dream to Agamemnon, Priam's escape from Achilles, and Odysseus's shipwreck and visit to the netherworld. Both Vergil and Luke, as well as many other intellectuals in the Roman Empire, engaged the great poetry of the Greeks to root new social or political realities in the soil of ancient Hellas, but they also rivaled Homer's gods and heroes to create new ones that were more moral, powerful, or compassionate. One might say that the genre of Luke-Acts is an oxymoron: a prose epic. If this assessment is correct, it holds enormous importance for understanding Christian origins, in part because one may no longer appeal to the Acts of the Apostles for reliable historical information. Luke was not a historian any more than Vergil was, and, as the Latin bard had done for the Augustine age, he wrote a fictional portrayal of the kingdom of God and its heroes, especially Jesus and Paul, who were more powerful, more ethical, and more compassionate than the gods and heroes of Homer and Euripides or those of Vergil's Aeneid.

Originally published many years ago, this outstanding book, now revised, is still fresh and challenging us today. It tells the story of a group of children - mostly street beggars and orphans - living in Adullam Rescue Mission in Yunan Province, China, under the care of missionaries H.A. Baker and his wife. These children experienced an immense and incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit - so great that they literally 'experienced heaven' through visions, were aware of the prescence of angels, and were able to describe in great detail what they saw. The result of these intense experiences of God was a fervent passion for worship, the Word of God, and prayer.

Violence committed by religious young people has become a regular feature of our daily news reports. What we hear less about are the growing numbers of religious young people from all faith backgrounds who are committed to interfaith understanding and cooperation. Building the Interfaith Youth Movement is the first book to describe this important phenomenon. Contributions include concrete descriptions of various interfaith youth projects across the country_from an arts-program in the South Bronx to a research program at Harvard University to a national organization called the Interfaith Youth Core based in Chicago_written by the founders and leaders of those initiatives. Additional chapters articulate the theory and methodology of this important new movement. This book is a must-read for college chaplains, religious leaders who work with youth, and students and scholars of contemporary religion.

This book challenges the faith-oriented conversion that encourages an exclusivist and monological approach to religious education in schools. "Living the Future in Dialogue" develops a new pedagogical paradigm for Nigeria: the "Integral and Transformative Model". Using a systematic approach, the book discusses the Christian tradition in light of the existence of other religions and worldviews. Religious education must encourage pupils to develop their own religious identities and respond to plurality to become members of a multicultural and multi-religious society. It is presented as an enrichment of a human being in relation to the self, world and God and the community as the locus where the human person is taught to develop the language of love, trust and hope.

The impact of globalization is widespread, affecting every sector of society, and the Church is not immune from such influence. Churches are awakening to diversifying pews and finding it difficult to insist on strict homogeneity. This shift in congregational composition has raised homiletical challenges for preachers who need to learn to effectively minister the Word in culturally diverse situations. This book offers multiethnic congregations a homiletical paradigm under the title "positive marginality". The paradigm includes the five principles of positive marginality: Embrace, Engage, Establish, Embody, and Exhibit. This paradigm is measured against seven preachers currently preaching in multiethnic churches in six different countries. These preachers offer valuable insights and suggest a positive correlation between the proposed paradigm and the homiletical practice of the preachers in multiethnic congregations. This book will serve well for pastors, preaching professors, seminary students, and seasoned preachers alike.

"In this thoughtful and provocative book Philip Barnes challenges religious educators to re-think their field, and proposes a new, post-liberal model of religious education to help them do so. His model both confronts prejudice and intolerance and also allows the voices of different religions to be heard and critically explored. While Education, Religion and Diversity is directed to a British audience the issues it raises and the alternative it proposes are important for those educators in the United States who believe that the public schools have an important role in teaching students about religion." Walter Feinberg, Professor Emeritus of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "Philip Barnes offers a penetrating and lucid analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of modern religious education in Britain. He considers a range of epistemological and methodological issues and identifies two contrasting models of religious education that have been influential, what he calls a liberal and a postmodern model. After a detailed review and criticism of both, he outlines his own new post-liberal model of religious education, one that is compatible with both confessional and non-confessional forms of religious education, yet takes religious diversity and religious truth claims seriously. Essential reading for all religious educators and those concerned with the role of religion in schools." Bernd Schroeder, Professor of Practical Theology and Religious Education, University of Goettingen. "What place, if any, does religious education have in the schools of an increasingly diverse society? This lucid and authoritative book makes an incisive contribution to this crucial debate." Roger Trigg is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick, and Senior Research Fellow, Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford. The challenge of diversity is central to education in modern liberal, democratic states, and religious education is often the point where these differences become both most acute and where it is believed, of all curriculum subjects, resolutions are most likely to be found. Education, Religion and Diversity identifies and explores the commitments and convictions that have guided post-confessional religious education and concludes controversially that the subject as currently theorised and practised is incapable of challenging religious intolerance and of developing respectful relationships between people from different communities and groups within society. It is argued that despite the rhetoric of success, which religious education is obliged to rehearse in order to perpetuate its status in the curriculum and to ensure political support, a fundamentally new model of religious education is required to meet the challenge of diversity to education and to society. A new framework for religious education is developed which offers the potential for the subject to make a genuine contribution to the creation of a responsible, respectful society. Education, Religion and Diversity is a wide-ranging, provocative exploration of religious education in modern liberal democracies. It is essential reading for those concerned with the role of religion in education and for religious and theological educators who want to think critically about the aims and character of religious education.

"In this thoughtful and provocative book Philip Barnes challenges religious educators to re-think their field, and proposes a new, post-liberal model of religious education to help them do so. His model both confronts prejudice and intolerance and also allows the voices of different religions to be heard and critically explored. While Education, Religion and Diversity is directed to a British audience the issues it raises and the alternative it proposes are important for those educators in the United States who believe that the public schools have an important role in teaching students about religion." Walter Feinberg, Professor Emeritus of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "Philip Barnes offers a penetrating and lucid analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of modern religious education in Britain. He considers a range of epistemological and methodological issues and identifies two contrasting models of religious education that have been influential, what he calls a liberal and a postmodern model. After a detailed review and criticism of both, he outlines his own new post-liberal model of religious education, one that is compatible with both confessional and non-confessional forms of religious education, yet takes religious diversity and religious truth claims seriously. Essential reading for all religious educators and those concerned with the role of religion in schools." Bernd Schroeder, Professor of Practical Theology and Religious Education, University of Goettingen. "What place, if any, does religious education have in the schools of an increasingly diverse society? This lucid and authoritative book makes an incisive contribution to this crucial debate." Roger Trigg is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick, and Senior Research Fellow, Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford. The challenge of diversity is central to education in modern liberal, democratic states, and religious education is often the point where these differences become both most acute and where it is believed, of all curriculum subjects, resolutions are most likely to be found. Education, Religion and Diversity identifies and explores the commitments and convictions that have guided post-confessional religious education and concludes controversially that the subject as currently theorised and practised is incapable of challenging religious intolerance and of developing respectful relationships between people from different communities and groups within society. It is argued that despite the rhetoric of success, which religious education is obliged to rehearse in order to perpetuate its status in the curriculum and to ensure political support, a fundamentally new model of religious education is required to meet the challenge of diversity to education and to society. A new framework for religious education is developed which offers the potential for the subject to make a genuine contribution to the creation of a responsible, respectful society. Education, Religion and Diversity is a wide-ranging, provocative exploration of religious education in modern liberal democracies. It is essential reading for those concerned with the role of religion in education and for religious and theological educators who want to think critically about the aims and character of religious education.

The parables of Jesus have undergone different transmutations in the long history of their transmission. The events surrounding his death and resurrection as well as the new situations his followers were confronted with after these events led to the parables of Jesus being given new accentuations according to the needs of the reflecting community. This is evident in Matthew's treatment of the parable trilogy of Mt 21:28-22:14. This work shows how Matthew has used the dominical parables and sayings found in his tradition to serve the needs of his community, especially in its struggles with the official Jewish leaders of his time. Through these parables, which he presented as a three-pronged attack against the Jewish leaders, Matthew shows his community as the true Israel, called to produce the fruits of righteousness. In this regard, the Jewish leaders stand for the members of Matthew's community lacking in the actions that define belongingness to the chosen people. This group has no part in the eschatological banquet.

John Dewey's fame as an educational theorist is matched by his infamy as a critic of traditional religion. This interdisciplinary work explores Dewey's philosophy of education in correlation with Christian theology, proposing that we see "theology as education". In conversation with Friedrich Schleiermacher (the father of modern theology), St. Benedict (the founder of Western monasticism), and Rowan Williams (the renowned archbishop of Canterbury), this innovative and accessible book develops a distinctive "Deweyan theology". John Dewey among the Theologians will be welcomed by readers interested in interdisciplinary theology, educational theory, religious education, and pragmatism.

Religious educators today are called upon to enable young people to develop as fully-rounded human beings in a multicultural and multifaith world. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the history of religions: religion is not relegated to the past. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the observable outward phenomena of religions: religion is not restricted to practices, artefacts, and buildings observable in the outside world. It is also necessary to take seriously what religions believe about themselves, and what religions believe about other religions. Seen from the inside, religions deal in the currency of truth. For the religions themselves, truth matters. Truth-claims can lead to harmony and peace, but they may also engender discord and violence. What ultimately counts is how one set of truth-claims confronts or embraces the truths claimed by other, different voices. Therefore those who teach religion cannot avoid dealing with the theology of religions. In this collection of original essays, religious educators shaped by both Christian and Islamic worldviews discuss the problems and opportunities that now face educators and believers alike, as they are confronted by the challenge of teaching religion and teaching truth. The discussion nurtured at the sixteenth conference of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values is here developed further, to stimulate wider reflection and shape good local practice.

Improving Preaching by Listening to Listeners: Sunday Service Preaching in the Malagasy Lutheran Church explores the reaction of the congregation to Sunday preaching. Preaching has been a significant activity since the founding of the Lutheran Church in Madagascar in 1867. However, hardly any research has been carried out to explore this interesting field, particularly from the listeners' perspective. This book is an attempt to remedy this situation. With the aid of methodology from rhetorical studies, adapted into homiletics, this book investigates: How do the character of the preacher, the content of the sermon, and its emotional appeal impact the listeners in such a way that preaching becomes significant in their lives? Listeners consider the preacher himself important, both his spiritual and everyday life. They evaluate his good intentions, whether he believes in his own message, and whether his message is moulded by an encounter with the risen Lord. The Bible provides the sermon's basic content and foundation, and The Holy Spirit is considered an active agent in the preaching event. The listeners encounter words from God through the sermon. They can experience change in their lives by listening to preaching from caring pastors who create presence for important issues for change to happen. The Malagasy context and culture form the backcloth throughout the investigation, and this book specifically investigates Malagasy rhetoric, that is, the public speech tradition with regard to its possible role in increasing the impact of preaching on the listeners.

As liberal democracies include increasingly diverse and multifaceted populations, the longstanding debate about the role of the state in religious education and the place of religion in public life seems imperative now more than ever. The maintenance of religious schools and the planning of religious education curricula raise a profound challenge. Too much state supervision can be conceived as interference in religious freedom and as a confinement of the right to cultural liberty. Too little supervision can be seen as neglecting the development of the liberal values required to live and work in a democratic society and as abandoning those who within their communities wish to attain a more rigorous education for citizenship and democracy. This book draws together leading educationalists, philosophers, theologians, and social scientists to explore issues, problems, and tensions concerning religious education in a variety of international settings. The contributors explore the possibilities and limitations of religious education in preparing citizens in multicultural and multi-religious democratic societies.

This book is an introductory study of the Old Testament and it is based on the lesson taught for many years by the authors in two different Universities in Ghana. It is an interactive and didactic work that provides an innovative approach to the study of the Hebrew Bible. Through reading selected passages from the Bible and doing recommended exercises as a means of reinforcing what has been learnt, the reader will achieve a good knowledge of the Old Testament and will acquire the capability of reading and interpreting further texts. Each chapter begins with a presentation of a map of the journey, the objectives to be achieved, a summary and a final section that helps the student to evaluate his/her comprehension. This book is also a contextualized text. The last chapter is dedicated to the Old Testament in Africa and the relationship between the African Continent and the Bible, giving the reader the possibilities of acquiring skills to interpret the Old Testament from African perspectives.

The work of practical theologian James E. Loder, Jr. (1931-2001) deserves a wider audience. For more than forty years, he developed and exercised an interdisciplinary methodology that identified patterns of correlation in the fields of psychology, educational theory, phenomenology, epistemology, and physics, producing a compelling theological vision that centers on the person and work of the Holy Spirit engaging and transforming human life. At his untimely death in November 2001, Loder was the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Philosophy of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he lectured primarily in the areas of human development and the philosophy of education. This book introduces and examines, explores and untangles the complexity of Loder's thought in order to make it more accessible to a broader audience. At the core of Loder's work is a relational phenomenological pneumatology of inestimable value to the theologian engaged in the ongoing renewal of the church. The Christian life is preeminently relational, distinguished by a relationship with God constituted by Jesus Christ, and sustained by the Holy Spirit. Relationality, Loder claims, takes place in and through the life of the Holy Spirit who operates within a complementary relationship with the human spirit, through an analogia spiritus: a profound, transformational interrelation of the Holy Spirit and the human spirit. The Holy Spirit, intimately connected to the person and work of Christ, takes up and extends the work begun in the incarnation by enfleshing the presence of Christ, thus transforming human life. Loder is distinctive for articulating a pneumatology that incorporates 'how' the self participates in the relationship and the way the self, through the relationship, comes to have a full knowledge of itself, the world, and God. It is precisely the logic of this Christomorphic dynamic that has extraordinary implications for the way we attempt to fathom the depths and convey the meaning of Christian experience. Loder's relational phenomenological pneumatology contains rich and principally unrecognized resources for providing new frameworks for the Christian life.

This book identifies how church cultural components are created, developed, and used to educate and empower adherents, and whether and how these tools are associated with the historic Black Church. The book is particularly interested in how large Black congregations - megachurches - use rituals found in worship, theology, racial beliefs, programmatic efforts, and other tools from their cultural repertoire to instruct congregants to model success in word and deed. The book's findings illustrate that Black megachurches strive to model success on various fronts by tapping into effective historic Black Church tools and creating cultural kits that foster excitement, expectation, and entitlement.

The first basic thesis of Anti-Roman Cryptograms in the New Testament: Hidden Transcripts of Hope and Liberation is that the Jesus of history and his earliest and closest followers during his lifetime and during the decades after he had been crucified by the Romans had not only a deep longing for eternal life with God beyond the limits of this world, but also a strong desire for liberation from Roman political, economic, and social oppression. The second basic thesis of Anti-Roman Cryptograms in the New Testament is that within the Christian Scriptures there are more hidden transcripts, coded messages (anti-Roman cryptograms) of hope and liberation, for « freedom now within this life, than we have realized throughout most of the history of interpretation. Hidden transcripts of hope and liberation are coded so that oppressed people are able to communicate to their fellow oppressed people in ways in which their message and their intent are shielded from the perceptions of their oppressors. These messages by the Jesus of history and by the writers of New Testament and related literature use the language of faith, of salvation, of Deity, and of adversaries of Deity, giving words that are commonly used by the oppressed people new and double meanings. Within interaction with other scholars who are publishing studies of hidden transcripts, this book is an analysis of hidden transcripts within each of the New Testament documents. The book is designed to be used in New Testament Studies courses at undergraduate and/or graduate levels, by study groups, and by all persons who desire a more adequate understanding of the Jesus of history, his closest followers, and their oral and written communications during the first three centuries C.E.

Den Ausgangspunkt dieser Studie bilden Wesen und Wirkung der Synagoga-Typologie im Kontext neuzeitlicher Antijudaismusforschung. Benannt und gedeutet werden auf psychologisch fundierter Basis judenfeindliche Selbstdefinitionen des Christentums, fächerübergreifend ihre Wege ins christlich-abendländische Kulturgut. Mit Einbezug dieser zumeist über ein diachrones Methodenverfahren gewonnenen Ergebnisse untersucht die Arbeit solidarisches Gedenken in religionspädagogischem und -didaktischem Blickfeld und entfaltet Ziele und Objektivationen erinnerungsgeleiteter Lernprozesse unter kritischer Würdigung bestehender Lehr-Lern-Sequenzen. Es zeigen sich u. a. Gründe hinterfragbarer religiös motivierter Nachrede als Folge einer theologisch unbewältigten Stellung zum Judentum und rezeptionsorientierte Maßnahmen als Akt gegen kulturell vermittelte Feindschaft.

The Christian Gospel and Its Jewish Roots goes against the tendency to interpret Scripture in ways that separate Christianity and Judaism. Through a redaction-critical analysis of the two sayings on the "new" and the "old" (Mark 2:21-22), the author argues that Mark does not leave his readers with a complete break between Jesus and his Jewish heritage. Rather, the Evangelist opens a ray of hope that the gospel and its Jewish soil are ultimately reconcilable, not fatally antagonistic. With thorough and incisive study, this work reaches the conclusion that standing at the literary center of the controversy series (Mark 2:1-3:6), the location of the two sayings on "new" and "old" (Mark 2:21-22) corresponds to their function of making a condensed statement for Mark, the Evangelist, of the meaning and impact of the whole conflict section.

In a recent work Richard Dawkins posed an immense challenge to theology by arguing on scientific grounds that the existence of God is so improbable that it can be safely dismissed as a delusion. This work responds to the challenge by examining the arguments put forward by Dawkins and subjecting them to critique in the light of Christian faith. The critique probes some of the assumptions underlying scientific endeavours about the nature of reality and it brings to the surface the question of how meaning, truth and freedom are properly to be understood. The work goes on to present a theological understanding of these realities in the light of Christian beliefs in God, in Jesus Christ, in creation and in redemption. Far from denying the importance of scientific endeavours and discoveries, this approach seeks to provide a framework in which they can be meaningfully situated, for the betterment of humanity as a whole.

This book examines the historical antecedents of the concept of general chapter, the supreme authority in an institute of consecrated life. This provides the basis for an examination of the contemporary understanding of the nature of its power and authority, as portrayed in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The general chapter is analysed in terms of its juridic status, collegial nature, participative character and representative function as well as its dynamic aspects and faith dimension. The author applies the findings to one institute of consecrated life, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary Loreto Branch. This application provides an example of the challenges inherent in working participatively and collaboratively within a hierarchical structure. Because consecrated life has an inalienable ecclesial dimension, understanding authority and power and their exercise in institutes of consecrated life has relevance for understanding authority and its exercise in other organs of authority at all levels in the church.

Revitalizing Practice is designed to help theological faculties engage a common set of challenges, particularly in the areas of diversity, formation, and institutional identity. These are not technical problems but are instead the very stuff out of which teaching and learning are practiced. Yet addressing such issues requires intentional strategies and collaborative work. Revitalizing Practice offers four such intentional strategies: "A New Ecology Model", "An Improvisational Model", "An Appreciative Inquiry Model", and "A World Cafe Model". Each of these models provides a thorough and practical framework (based on sound theoretical concepts) designed to help faculties revitalize their practices of theological teaching and learning.

A Case for Mixed-Audience with Reference to the Warning Passages in the Book of Hebrews discusses the nature of the warnings in Hebrews and how these warnings relate to the theological question of the eternal security of believers. The main argument is that these warnings are intended to target a particular segment of the author's community, about whose appropriation of and subsequent attitude toward the Christian message he was deeply concerned. That is to say, while the book of Hebrews is addressed as a message of encouragement to the community as a whole, its warnings are aimed at a certain element in the community whose salvation is threatened by a possible dangerous course of action. The book implies that while the author is persuaded that the majority in the community are genuine believers, there are some about whose salvation he doubts; hence the «case for a mixed-audience. What is threatened, therefore, is not a salvation already possessed, but the salvation of those in danger of coming up short. Theologically, the work falls within the sphere of the Calvinistic-Arminian debate regarding the assurance of salvation and the perseverance of the saints. It argues strongly for the Calvinistic position, but does so within the confines of the discipline of biblical studies, and lends extensive exegetical support to the Calvinistic position on the warning passages. The book is highly recommended for Bible College and seminary students and professors, as well as pastors and lay leaders who must give answers to their parishoners on those tough warning passages in Hebrews.

With a particular emphasis on the soul, this book explores Edith Stein's holistic conception of the human being's body-soul-spirit unity, which forms the foundation of her Christian anthropology and her view of human formation. Characterized by an unremitting attention to interconnections, Stein emerges as a forerunner of contemporary holistic approaches. Edith Stein and the Body-Soul-Spirit at the Center of Holistic Formation demonstrates the breadth and relevance of Stein's work by engaging her thought with the anthropological views of fellow phenomenologist John Paul II, Wilkie Au's perspectives on holistic spirituality and formation, and several nonreductionist, neuroscientific viewpoints of the human being. This book also makes available to the English reader a significant amount of material from Stein's untranslated works. Anyone interested in theological anthropology, holistic spirituality, human formation, the body-mind question, or Edith Stein studies will benefit from the wealth of material presented in this single book.

Transformation is a desired outcome of Christian spirituality. Christians pray, trust, and hope that their responsive embrace of God will transform them. Interdisciplinary study of this process, as journey and as significant movements, hits upon key philosophical, theological, and psychological debates. Are all spiritualities the same core with an overlay of traditional practices and beliefs? How is the Holy Spirit involved in human life as the potential for this transformation process unfolds from birth? Can psychological theories of transformation that do not affirm divine reality have explanatory and descriptive power for Christian understandings of transformation? These areas of focus and related questions encompass broad landscapes. This book places a magnifying glass on one piece of the terrain by engaging the work of philosopher, theologian, and psychologist James Loder, mystical spirituality scholars Andrew Louth, Bernard McGinn, Denys Turner, and Mark McIntosh, and archetypal movement founder James Hillman. Without denying differences, this work is the first analysis to identify connections among these thinkers. The significance of the connections is both substantive and methodological for intra- and inter-faith (broadly understood) spirituality discussion, as well as for the engagement of the Christian church with the culture of the twenty-first century.