Christians talk about the Holy Spirit, but rarely know how to recognize the Spirit's presence and activity in the world. Luke is the most illuminating gospel writer on the topic of the Holy Spirit. Luke writes about Jesus as the messiah anointed by the Holy Spirit, and about the church as the Spirit-empowered fellowship in the Mediterranean world of the first century. These meditations on Luke-Acts attempt to discern how the winds of the Spirit have blown in the lives of Jesus, his disciples, and the earliest Christians so that we can track and participate in the works of the Holy Spirit in the global village of the 21st century.

Los Angeles is a global crossroads of migrating communities that presents a case study of migration, transnationalism, and interfaith engagement with significant implications for thinking and practice in other global hubs. This book weaves together contributions from a group of internationally-recognized scholars who were brought together for the 2020 Missiology Lectures at Fuller Theological Seminary, which received funding from the Luce Foundation. They examine historical waves of migration - European Protestant, Asian, Latino/a, and Muslim - into Southern California and use sociological, missiological, and theological methods to understand the experience of migration and its effects, both on those who move and those who are already there. The result shows how migrants are inspired and sustained by faith and spiritual resources; how migration challenges faith communities about their identity and attitudes to others; how faith communities in turn impact the migration landscape through immigrant integration and public advocacy, and how migration forges new transnational and global ways of being in community and innovative religious movements. The contributors put forward a mission theology of migration and suggest mission practices in response to the suffering caused by forced migration and the injustices of immigration systems.

In this book, established scholars from different religions, regions, and disciplines continue the dialogue that Veli-Matti Karkkainen began in his A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World series and respond to his work in light of their diverse expertise and context. Each of the three parts focuses on a key area of Karkkainen's engaging work: 1) highlighting how his method shaped each volume, 2) highlighting his commitment to global perspectives, and 3) highlighting his interreligious and interdisciplinary dialogue partners. Together, these essays seek to deepen and extend the impact of Karkkainen's work, taking it seriously as a substantive model for contemporary systematic theology in listening and engaging with this world.

The Bible and Disability: A Commentary (BDC) is the first comprehensive commentary on the Bible from the perspective of disability. The BDC examines how the Bible constructs or reflects human wholeness, impairment, and disability in all their expressions. Biblical texts do envision the ideal body, but they also present visions of the body that deviate from this ideal, whether physically or through cognitive impairments or mental illness. The BDC engages the full range of these depictions of body and mind, exploring their meaning through close readings and comparative analysis. The BDC enshrines the distinctive interpretive imagination required to span the worlds of biblical studies and disability studies. Each of the fourteen contributors has worked at this intersection; and through their combined expertise, the very best of both biblical studies and disability studies culminates in detailed textual work of description, interpretation, and application to provide a synthetic and synoptic whole. The result is a close reading of the Bible that gives long-overdue attention to the fullness of human identity narrated in the Scriptures. Not for sale in the UK.

These essays reflect on the future of Christian theology in light of the contributions Jurgen Moltmann has made in his prolific career as one of the world's foremost theologians. They are not a prediction of what is coming in the future of theology, since God's own actions, and human history, for that matter, are not predictable. Expressed here is hope for what future theology should take seriously from Moltmann's work. Moltmann broke the mold of 19th and 20th century theology by focusing consistently on God's promises of a new heaven and a new earth. The result was a theological imagination that is utterly realistic, delighting in the creative tension of theology that lives in an unfinished, open field of negations and possibilities. Hope for the promised future of God casts its light on present sufferings that contradict that future. The prominent themes here focus on the contradictions of God's promises and God's justice. The essays see clearly the human domination that leads to the oppression of nature, the hatred of the poor, the dominance of one gender over the other, the migration of those who find no home in their homeland, and the wounds of neocolonialism. For Moltmann, these sufferings do not belong simply to ethics but to the heart of theology. The doctrines of creation, redemption, and new creation are fully engaged in the political, economic, ecological, and social problems of this time. Here lies the way ecumenism will be reborn in the future. The essays argue that theology should not turn aside from Moltmann's main theme of the resurrection of the Crucified One and of the presence of God's future in the present. Hope opens our eyes to the work of God's Spirit of Life and the affirmation of eternal life in the present. The future of Christian theology should not miss the theme of joy in the face of sin, death, and evil and the celebration of God's cosmic, all-inclusive future in which God will be at home in God's creation.

Paul Tillich (1886-1965) is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. By bringing his thought together with the theology and practices of an important contemporary Christian movement, Pentecostalism, this volume provokes active, productive, critical, and creative dialogue with a broad range of theological topics. These essays stimulate robust conversation, engage on common ground regarding the work of the Holy Spirit, and offer significant insights into the universal concerns of Christian theology and Paul Tillich and his legacy.

This volume brings 'America's theologian' and one of the fastest growing forms of Christianity into dialogue. Edwards is a fruitful source for Pentecostal investigation for historical and theological reasons. Edwards and Pentecostals descend from a common historical tradition-North American Evangelicalism. From revivalism and religious/charismatic experience to pneumatology they also share common theological interests. Though sharing a common history and core theological concerns, no critical conversation between Pentecostals and Edwards and their fields of scholarship has occurred. This is the first volume that provides Pentecostal readings of Edwards' theology that contribute to Pentecostal theology and Edwards scholarship. The contributing essays offer examination of affections and the Spirit, God and Salvation, Church and culture; and mission and witness.

Christianity Today Book Award Winner ASM (American Society of Missiology) Book of the Year Award Named one of Ten Outstanding Books of 2016 for Mission Studies, International Bulletin of Mission Research This up-to-date textbook features global perspectives on current Christian engagement with Islam, equipping readers for mission among Muslims. Evelyne Reisacher, who has worked extensively with Muslims in Europe, helps readers move from fear to joy as they share the gospel with Muslims. Reisacher surveys areas where Muslims and Christians encounter one another in the twenty-first century, highlighting innovative models of Christian witness in everyday life. Drawing on insights from global Christianity, this survey takes account of diverse conceptions of Muslim-Christian relations. The book may surprise those who believe mission among Muslims is nearly impossible. This is the first book in the Mission in Global Community series, which reframes missiological themes and studies for students around the common theme of mission as partnership with others. Series authors draw upon their own global experience and that of their global colleagues to illumine present realities and chart a course into the future. Series editors are Scott W. Sunquist and Amos Yong.

Godly Love: Impediments and Possibilities examines the theory of "Godly Love," understood as including a vertical axis denoting the love of God and a horizontal axis involving the love of others, is at the core of a new field of research that studies how divine love influences the love of others and vice-versa. It is a multidisciplinary research program into the benevolent expressions of the Great Commandment of the Christian tradition involving the theological and social sciences. Theological and social scientific essays that ask why there is not more Godly Love in this world and what might be done to change the situation. This book focuses on the problems confronting, challenging, prohibiting, and perhaps even resisting the concrete expression of Godly Love in the world, utilizing a range of theological and especially social scientific methodologies.

Pentecostalism has been known much more for its religious experientialism than for its theology. During the past generation, however, Pentecostals have taken up the task of reflecting theologically from their experience of the Spirit of God. This book represents Pentecostal theology at its best, being thoroughly and unabashedly Pentecostal on the one hand, and yet being deeply ecumenical on the other. Within this dual Pentecostal and ecumenical framework, it offers Spirit-centered theological perspectives on the doctrine of the Church (ecclesiology), the doctrine of the salvation (soteriology), and the ministry and witness of Christians to the world (theology of mission). Toward a Pneumatological Theology is a sign that Pentecostal theology has come of age. It furthers the discussion of what it means to do Christian theology by starting with the Spirit of God, thereby demonstrating that Pentecostalism may indeed have something unique and distinctive to offer theologically to the larger Christian Church. At the same time, it will also be of interest to those who wish to begin understanding Pentecostalism on its own terms as well as to those who have followed closely the history and theology of the movement.

In 2006, the contemporary American Pentecostal movement celebrated its 100th birthday. Over that time, its African American sector has been markedly influential, not only vis-a-vis other branches of Pentecostalism but also throughout the Christian church. Black Christians have been integrally involved in every aspect of the Pentecostal movement since its inception and have made significant contributions to its founding as well as the evolution of Pentecostal/charismatic styles of worship, preaching, music, engagement of social issues, and theology. Yet despite its being one of the fastest growing segments of the Black Church, Afro-Pentecostalism has not received the kind of critical attention it deserves.

Afro-Pentecostalism brings together fourteen interdisciplinary scholars to examine different facets of the movement, including its early history, issues of gender, relations with other black denominations, intersections with popular culture, and missionary activities, as well as the movement's distinctive theology. Bolstered by editorial introductions to each section, the chapters reflect on the state of the movement, chart its trajectories, discuss pertinent issues, and anticipate future developments.

Contributors: Estrelda Y. Alexander, Valerie C. Cooper, David D. Daniels III, Louis B. Gallien, Jr., Clarence E. Hardy III, Dale T. Irvin, Ogbu U. Kalu, Leonard Lovett, Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., Cheryl J. Sanders, Craig Scandrett-Leatherman, William C. Turner, Jr., Frederick L. Ware, and Amos Yong

Pentecostalism is one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world. Groups in the United States dominated early Pentecostal histories, but recent global manifestations have expanded and complicated the definition of Pentecostalism. This volume provides a nuanced overview of Pentecostalism's various manifestations and explores what it means to be Pentecostal from the perspectives of both insiders and outsiders. Leading scholars in the field use a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the historical, economic, political, anthropological, sociological, and theological aspects of the movement. They address controversies, such as the Oneness-Trinity controversy; introduce new theories; and chart trajectories for future research. The Cambridge Companion to Pentecostalism will enable beginners to familiarize themselves with the important issues and debates surrounding the global movement, while also offering experienced scholars a valuable handbook for reference.