Humanity operates like a force of nature capable of affecting the destiny of the Earth System. This epochal shift profoundly alters the relationship between humankind and the Earth, presenting the conscious, thinking human animal with an unprecedented dilemma: As human power has grown over the Earth, so has the power of nature to extinguish human life. The emergence of the Anthropocene has settled any question of the place of human beings in the world: we stand inescapably at its center. The outstanding question-which forms the impetus and focus for this book-remains: What kind of human being stands at the center of the world? And what is the nature of that world? Unlike the scientific fact of human-centeredness, this is a moral question, a question that brings theology within the scope of reflection on the critical failures of human irresponsibility. Much of Christian theology has so far flunked the test of engaging the reality of the Anthropocene. The authors of these original essays begin with the premise that it is time to push harder at the questions the Anthropocene poses for people of faith.

"This is required reading for all students, researchers, and scholars in theology, as well as for ministers and lay leaders engaged in ministry." - Black Theology Out of Place looks at the ways in which theology, as a discipline and a practice, is out of place at several locations: churches, nations, communities, disciplines, institutions, and in public space. It contains several reflections on what it means to be out of place in both theory and in reality, from views and realities that are out of place from the dominant theological stream. Together the contributions in this volume aim to show that for theology to transform and be transformative, it must come out of place and attend to peoples and cultures (understood broadly) that have thus far been out of place. The contributions in this book uphold the key convictions that theologies are shaped by place and they are unavoidably contextual so that no theology can encompass all places and contexts. Therefore it is necessary for our spatially-defined theologies to cross, intersect and interweave and thus seek to embrace places that have not been acknowledged or expressed.

"This is required reading for all students, researchers, and scholars in theology, as well as for ministers and lay leaders engaged in ministry." - Black Theology Out of Place looks at the ways in which theology, as a discipline and a practice, is out of place at several locations: churches, nations, communities, disciplines, institutions, and in public space. It contains several reflections on what it means to be out of place in both theory and in reality, from views and realities that are out of place from the dominant theological stream. Together the contributions in this volume aim to show that for theology to transform and be transformative, it must come out of place and attend to peoples and cultures (understood broadly) that have thus far been out of place. The contributions in this book uphold the key convictions that theologies are shaped by place and they are unavoidably contextual so that no theology can encompass all places and contexts. Therefore it is necessary for our spatially-defined theologies to cross, intersect and interweave and thus seek to embrace places that have not been acknowledged or expressed.

Clive Pearson takes us on an engaging whirlwind tour of the fifty-three men and three women who have so far held the office of Prime Minister. We discover how they got to the top of the greasy pole and assess their performance once in power. Perhaps more importantly, we find out what lasting influence they have had on our lives today. The author also offers up entertaining little-known facts about these key players. Eighteenth-century prime ministers were generally a poor lot, often beset by health problems such as gout and apoplectic fits; later, one nineteenth-century premier spent his evenings prowling the streets at night looking for prostitutes to 'reform'. This book casts a light on this colourful cast of characters, and offers an entertaining and accessible introduction to those who over the last three centuries have held the highest office in the land.

Synopsis: Home and Away provides new vantage points in contextual theology. An initial stream looks at the significance of postcodes as a way of mapping local areas as situations for pastoral ministry and theological reflection. A second, but not ancillary, stream of essays considers the local within a range of glocal and global dynamics. The essays do not unfold a single trajectory of thought about context, and at various points they indirectly question and challenge each other. The pieces meld into an international and ecumenical conversation about contemporary Christian ministry. It includes voices from North America, Europe, and Austral/Asia. Although open ended, and constantly crisscrossing questions from one context to another, the collection is emphatic in its common conviction that attention to very local circumstance is crucial for Christian ministry, just as are wider views of a locality's position in broader flows. Endorsements: "Home and Away details why global needs local and 'away' is anchored in home. Ten essays show why the local postcode-zipcode is an essential starting point for theological reflection that matters." --Dean Drayton, School of Theology, Charles Sturt University Author Biography: Stephen Burns is Research Fellow in Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University, Australia. His publications include Liturgy (2006), Worship in Context (2006), Exchanges of Grace (coeditor, 2008), The Edge of God (coeditor, 2008), Christian Worship in Australia (coeditor, 2009), Presiding Like a Woman (coeditor, 2010), and Christian Worship: Postcolonial Perspectives (with Michael N. Jagessar, 2011). Clive Pearson is Head of the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University, Australia. His publications include Faith in a Hyphen (editor, 2004), Thirty Years of Korean Ministry in Australia (coeditor, 2004), Scholarship and Fierce Sincerity (with Allan Davidson and Peter Lineman, 2007) and Out of Place (coeditor 2011).