Words Made Flesh draws together a number of Elaine Graham's shorter writings and essays and thereby maps out the work of a pioneer theological thinker and the development of pastoral and practical theology in the last twenty years. Elaine Graham considers the theological significance of topics as diverse as nativity plays, science fiction, gender, consumerism, cyberspace and urban regeneration. They all share a concern with the way the sources and norms of the Christian tradition can enter into a creative and critical conversation with contemporary experience in order to generate the 'practical wisdom' by which the life of the Church can be directed. They reflect the author's fundamental conviction that theology as 'talk about God-in-the-world' is always practical and public - and that it begins and ends in the complexities of the human condition: where words become flesh. About the Author Professor Elaine Graham is Grosvenor Research Professor of Practical Theolog at the University of Chester and was Samuel Fergusson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester and Executive Director of the Manchester Research Institute for Religion and Civil Society. She was President of the International Academy of Practical Theology between 2005 and 2007.

"Is Being Pro-Choice a Sin?" studies the wording in the Roman Catholic Church's official pronouncements, compares the related ambiguities and inconsistencies in the Church's official teachings regarding abortion, and brings to the forefront many yet unanswered questions about one of the most controversial issues of our time.

Len Belter relies on his personal experience as a practicing Catholic as he shares a detailed examination of the human reproductive process, formal church documents, and natural law concepts. Intended for church bishops and others who share Belter's misgivings, Belter questions why every fertilized human egg existing outside a woman's womb must be considered of equivalent moral value as a born human. While detailing where clarification and change are needed within church doctrine, Belter delves into such topics as: Why the Church ignores that many fertilized human eggs are naturally shed The significance of the historical understanding of the "male seed" What role fertility treatments play in the church's position The alleged sin of cooperating with evil "Is Being Pro-Choice a Sin?" raises many reflective questions for those both within and outside the walls of the Catholic Church while encouraging a reduction in accusatory rhetoric and an open dialogue.

The Bible in Counseling is the latest book in practical theology from Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and bible teacher Dr. Stan DeKoven. The book is designed to be a useful guide on what to do and what not to do with clients in regards to God's word, and as a resource for the Pastor or Christian Counselor desirous of effectively understanding, from a biblical and Psychological view, key issues facing God's people in church life today.

Carole Fontaine, well known among biblical scholars for her feminist studies in the biblical wisdom traditions and the ancient Near East, is also a human rights and interfaith activist working on issues of violence against Muslim women in the Middle East and Southern Asia and a board member of many agencies such as the International Network for the Rights of Female Victims of Violence in Pakistan, and the Women's Forum against Fundamentalism in Iran. In this collection of her essays, mostly previously unpublished, she brings together these two concerns, distilling from the scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam valuable insights into current questions of human rights. Unlike many writers, Fontaine recognizes the critical role of gender in the fundamental concept of the 'Other', so determinative for our view of humanity. In our days, Fontaine argues, human rights issues have taken on a new dimension in political discourse about war, peace and terror, where often an appeal is made to religious and scriptural justifications for the violation or preservation of rights. Fontaine urges attention to the priority of the sufferer in adjudicating meaning, and turns to the 'little texts' of daily ethics rather than grand theological abstractions in order to place 'scriptures' in meaningful conversation with the concrete realities of our world.

Narrative Therapy is an approach to counseling and community work that is having increasing influence in the helping field internationally. As well, the concept of narrative has become increasingly utilized in therapy, spirituality, organizational psychology and theology. This text is written for counseling practitioners, psychologists, pastors, social workers and chaplains who desire to integrate spirituality in their professional practice. The book presents a conversation between Christian spirituality and Narrative ideas demonstrating the effectiveness of Narrative Therapy in transformational work. The book is edited by two lecturer/practitioners who both lead counselor education faculties. Other contributors to the book are lecturers and therapists who are integrating these ideas in their practice in the counseling room and the classroom. Philosophical difficulties are discussed and practical applications are offered for using Narrative Therapy in a range of contexts.

A Father's Words examines the profound impact fathers' words have on their children. The words and actions of fathers shape their children's lives in many crucial areas. The things fathers say can make or break their children. Christian counselor Stephen Rossi presents specific strategies, examples, and solutions for repairing, restoring, and healing broken father-child relationships created by degrading words from fathers. Rossi's insightful, practical, and compelling book focuses on helping fathers understand, reverse, and prevent the devastating effects of their demeaning words on their children. Rossi inspires and encourages fathers to make the necessary changes that will bless their children. He knows very well as a Christian counselor that this can only really be done with Christ. Rossi relies on and involves Christ in the explanation and healing process throughout his book. A Father's Words is based on Rossi's work with fathers and their children throughout his career.

A Father's Words examines the profound impact fathers' words have on their children. The words and actions of fathers shape their children's lives in many crucial areas. The things fathers say can make or break their children. Christian counselor Stephen Rossi presents specific strategies, examples, and solutions for repairing, restoring, and healing broken father-child relationships created by degrading words from fathers. Rossi's insightful, practical, and compelling book focuses on helping fathers understand, reverse, and prevent the devastating effects of their demeaning words on their children. Rossi inspires and encourages fathers to make the necessary changes that will bless their children. He knows very well as a Christian counselor that this can only really be done with Christ. Rossi relies on and involves Christ in the explanation and healing process throughout his book. A Father's Words is based on Rossi's work with fathers and their children throughout his career.

Description: Harry S. Guntrip was best known for his affiliation with two famous psychoanalysts from what is known as the British Independent tradition of psychoanalysis in England: Ronald Fairbairn and Donald Winnicott. This book traces the various influences on the development of his clinical and theological thinking in context of the historical tension between religion and psychoanalysis. The central feature of his development will be demonstrated as a series of polarities, both theoretical and personal, conflicts with which he wrestled theologically, psychologically, and interpersonally on the professional level and in his own personal psychoanalyses. A critical evaluation of the outcome of Guntrip's own personal psychoanalyses with Fairbairn and Winnicott will demonstrate the autobiographical nature of his theoretical analysis of schizoid phenomena: a psychological state of self-preoccupation and way of being in the world. --from the Introduction Endorsements: ""Theological existence, wrote Karl Barth, is the personal existence of the 'little theologian' which, he went on to say, is to participate totally in the problematic aspects of the self in community with others. In this exquisite excursion into the formative religious and psychological influences on the life and practice of Harry Guntrip, Trevor Dobbs probes the self's regressive dependence upon the other as an implicit theological existence for which God is the only reality sufficient to sustain the self in its paradoxical quest for relation and autonomy. In reading this, I was reminded that all theology is autobiographical (and therefore psychological) if it is to be an authentic conversation that includes God, self and others. This is a book that will stimulate and extend that conversation."" --Ray S. Anderson Fuller Theological Seminary ""In the century-long dialogue between psychoanalysis and religion, analysts have been accustomed to reflecting on the role of psychoanalytic elements in religious thinking and practice. The opposite consideration--the degree to which religious orientations and concepts might have played a role in the development of psychoanalytic thinking and theorizing--has been largely ignored. Dobbs' careful study brings this latter perspective into dramatic focus. The pivotal figure is Harry Guntrip--himself a complex figure who was both Congregational minister and psychoanalyst. Guntrip himself was profoundly influenced by his religious upbringing and beliefs. Dobbs shows how these influences found their way into his psychoanalytic theorizing. But more interesting and perhaps more important was his involvement with two of the giants of psychoanalysis--Ronald Fairbairn and Donald Winnicott. Dobbs' detailed analysis reveals how the interactions among the members of this psychoanalytic troika were powerfully shaped and guided by their respective religious backgrounds and religious commitments. We learn about Guntrip's Wesleyan Congregationalism, Fairbairn's Calvinistic Presbyterianism, and Winnicott's revivalist Methodism, and their reverberations in their respective approaches to psychoanalysis as well as their impact on Guntrip himself who was analyzed by both men. The implications of these findings reach well beyond their immediate contexts and speak to the broader issues of how religion and religious persuasions can come to play a role in how we as analysts think about analysis. This realization opens a broad new territory for meaningful exploration and analytic understanding for those interested in the dialogue between psychoanalysis and religion, a dialogue that really is, it turns out, a two-way conversation. Professor Dobbs' detailed reconstruction is an important and valuable contribution--one that enriches our understanding of psychoanalysis itself and that interested readers would be well-advised to ponder."" --W. W. Meissner, SJ, MD Boston College About the Contributor(s): Trevor M. Dobbs, PhD, is Core Faculty in t

Experts in both the mental and medical health professions have endeavored to formulate comprehensible explanation for the remarkable recoveries made by people under their care. As we struggle with the seemingly endless battle with mental disorders, and increasingly resistant strains of viruses, many professionals are looking to alternative methodologies. It is no secret that the battle is complex and staged with many players, most of whom have questionable motives. Attitudes and opinions run deep and the level of pride from one school of thought to another can be outright childish. Regulation of how treatment should be provided is another area that seriously lacks direction. Politicians are transitory in their positions, and most of them direct both resources and influence toward the largest pool of voters, and/or the most significant interest group. This is not an indictment against their integrity, but a candid observation of their predicament. Alternative medicine and psychological therapies have expanded until now they are becoming just as popular as traditional treatments. In the midst of all of these dynamics we find routine accounts of divine healing, and deliverance from mental afflictions. This book focuses on the comparisons between secular medicine, including mental health therapies, divine healing, and most importantly, Christian counseling. Considerable attention has been dedicated to historical development, clinical results, and the attributes of the different approaches currently being used. The primary objective of this work is to pry into the sensitive area of the valued principles and practices of secular psychology and traditional medicine, to improve the generalunderstanding of these areas within the Christian community. This book aims to expose the link between Christian faith and improved mental and physical health. It will reveal serious weaknesses among Christians' and Church Leaders concerning mental health counseling. It will also bring to light the lack of clarity and direction in America's mental health care system, and the dangers of hybrid Christian counseling models used by the Church. The last objective is to present Scriptural based solutions that can be used in a professional and practical way. (Dr. Drake Perry 2006)

This book will provide a structured approach to financial education of a couple about to be married. Designed to review their past, their present and their future with questions posed to highlight critical points, it is arranged to assist the pastor or counselor. It purposely keeps to a minimum the work required to insure that the task will be finished. Forms accompany the questions to enable a couple to individually complete their own workbook. A Facilitator's Guide is provided. The main strength of this book is its simplicity and yet its profundity of good financial information and financial guidance make for an educational experience.

Help Overcoming Painful Experiences (H.O.P.E.) is a non-profit organization that both cultivates and promotes the value of spiritual and emotional health from a Biblical perspective. Our mission is to provide a safe place to work through the emotional issues that hinder us from fully embracing God, others, and life with enthusiasm.

To accomplish our mission, H.O.P.E. was designed to help people 1) overcome emotional pain from a variety of issues, 2) build a safe and healthy support network, 3) comprehend the truths about God in the midst of pain while exposing and replacing lies and 4) experience a life transformation through the healing power of Jesus Christ. In essence, we resurrect hope.

Our support and recovery model consists of three levels. "Doorway to H.O.P.E." is used in Level 1 and focuses on Three Truths About Life. These truths are used as an encouragement for beginning the journey to emotional and spiritual wholeness and healing. They also expose needs, tear down barriers to making healthy changes and "wet appetites" for experiencing God's transformational power.

In this latest edition of Dr. DeKoven's book Marriage and Family Life, the principles from the Word of God, necessary to have an effective and God pleasing family are presented with humor and grace. Perfect marriages do not exist, but healthy ones can if one can apply the word of God with wisdom to the practical issues of family life. This comprehensive book will help the reader find practical wisdom and help for troubled times, will provide the pastor or counselor materials for pre-marital counseling, and for the Christian counselor, strong theological and psychological principles to help the troubled home.

It is often assumed that the law and religion address different spheres of human life. Religion and ethics articulate complex systems of moral reasoning that concern norms, deliberation of ends, cultivation of disposition, and transformation of moral agency. Law, in contrast, seeks to govern human conduct through procedural justice, rights, and public good. Doing Justice to Mercy challenges this assumption by presenting the reader with an urgent conversation between the law and religion that yields a constructive approach, both theoretically and practically, to the complex role of mercy in our legal process.

Authored by legal practitioners, activists, and theorists in addition to theologians and ethicists, the essays collected here are informed by timeless principles, and yet they could not be timelier. The trend in sentencing moves toward an increased severity, and the number of incarcerated people in the United States is at an all-time high. In the half-decade since 9/11, moreover, homeland security has established itself as a permanent fixture in our lives. In this atmosphere, the current volume seeks initially to clarify how justice and mercy intertwine in relation to a number of issues, such as rehabilitation, the death penalty, domestic violence, and war crimes. Exploring the legal, philosophical, and theological grounds for mercy in our courts, the discussion then moves to the practical ways in which mercy may be implemented.

Contributors: Marc Mauer, The Sentencing Project * Lois Gehr Livezey, McCormick Theological Seminary * Ernie Lewis, Public Advocate, Commonwealth of Kentucky * Jonathan Rothchild, Loyola Marymount University * Albert W. Alschuler, Northwestern University School of Law * David Scheffer, Northwestern University School of Law * David Little, Harvard Divinity School * Matthew Myer Boulton, Andover Newton Theological School * Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary * Sarah Coakley, Cambridge University * William Schweiker, University of Chicago Divinity School * Kevin Jung, College of William and Mary * Peter J. Paris, Princeton Theological Seminary * W. Clark Gilpin, University of Chicago Divinity School * William C. Placher, Wabash College

Much more than a particular period in world history, modernity has fundamentally transformed how we think and live, and especially how we understand and relate to religious traditions. As the 'ghetto walls' have fallen, both empirically and metaphorically, Judaism is compelled to compete in an open marketplace of ideas. Jews can no longer count on an assumedly necessary Jewish identity or commitment, nor on the rallying force of anti-Semitism to ensure an individual and collective sense of belonging. Rather Jewish moral, spiritual and historical values and ideas must be read with new eyes and challenged to address modernity's proliferating array of questions and realities. The pertinent questions modern Jewry faces are how to embrace modernity as Jews and what such an embrace means for the meaning and future of Jewish life. This collection of essays, authored by scholars of the Shalom Hartman Institute, addresses three critical challenges posed to Judaism by modernity: the challenge of ideas, the challenge of diversity, and the challenge of statehood, and provides insights and ideas for the future direction of Judaism. Providing readers with new insights into Judaism and the Jewish people in contemporary times, the collection explores a wide range of issues that includes: the significance of Israel for the future of Judaism; the Jewish people as a people; the relationship between monotheism and violence; revelation and ethics; Judaism and the feminist challenge; and Judaism and homosexuality.

Sites of violence often provoke conflicts over memorialization. These conflicts provide insight into the construction and use of memory as a means of achieving public recognition of past wrongs. In this groundbreaking collection, scholars of religious studies, sociology, history, and political science, as well as African, Caribbean, Jewish, and Native American studies, examine the religious memorialization of violent acts that are linked to particular sites. Supported by the essays gathered here, the editors argue that memory is essential to religion and, conversely, that religion is inherent in memory. Other books have considered memory and violence, or religion and place this collection is the first to discuss the intersection of all four.

Contributors are David Chidester, James H. Foard, Roger Friedland, Richard D. Hecht, Juan A. Herrero Brasas, Janet Liebman Jacobs, Flora A. Keshgegian, J. Shawn Landres, Edward T. Linenthal, Timothy Longman, Tania Oldenhage, Michelene E. Pesantubbee, Terry Rey, William Robert, Theoneste Rutagengwa, Oren Baruch Stier, Jonathan Webber, and James E. Young."

Coming Out From Voices of Guilt & Shame is about setting captives free. Physical and mental captivity that result from the three-headed monster known as abuse are identified by seven characters or conditions. The three heads of the abusive monster are, physical, sexual, and emotional. The seven characters or conditions give rise to personalities and generational curses. These personalities and curses of rebellion, pride, rejection, depression, entanglement, rage, and confusion about redemption, are the furnishings that decorate our lives and behaviors.

Help Overcoming Painful Experiences (H.O.P.E.) is a non-profit organization that both cultivates and promotes the value of spiritual and emotional health from a Biblical perspective. Our mission is to provide a safe place to work through the emotional issues that hinder us from fully embracing God, others, and life with enthusiasm. To accomplish our mission, H.O.P.E. was designed to help people 1) overcome emotional pain from a variety of issues, 2) build a safe and healthy support network, 3) comprehend the truths about God in the midst of pain while exposing and replacing lies and 4) experience a life transformation through the healing power of Jesus Christ. In essence, we resurrect hope. Our support and recovery model consists of three levels. Names of H.O.P.E. is used during Level 2 and centers on names of God that connect with and meet the needs encountered while going through painful experiences in life. Each lesson relates one of God's names to the truth of His character and shows how He alone can provide what is needed on the journey to emotional and spiritual wholeness and healing.