What does it mean to lead a truly "life-giving way of life"? What kinds of learning and teaching will best prepare ministers to foster such a way of life in their congregations? How might teachers of practical theology best understand and undertake their task to educate and form ministers? Respected scholars and ministers explore such questions in For Life Abundant, probing and clarifying the significance of practical theology in the classroom, in the wider academy, and in actual ministry settings.

Contributors: Dorothy C. Bass
Kathleen A. Cahalan
David D. Daniels III
Craig Dykstra
Serene Jones
Thomas G. Long
Peter W. Marty
Gordon S. Mikoski
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore
James R. Nieman
Christian R. Scharen
Ted A. Smith
John P. Witvliet
David J. Wood

"Twelve time-honored Christian practices that will help us, and the world, to flourishPracticing Our Faith offers help to Christians who are asking how our faith can help us discern what we might do and who we might become. How can we live faithfully and with integrity in a world where the pace of existence is so fast and life's patterns are changing all around us? Can we conduct our daily lives in ways that help us not just get by but flourish--as individuals, as communities, and as a society in concert with creation and in communion with God?These questions are on the hearts and minds of many seekers who are exploring spirituality today. They are also at the heart of Practicing Our Faith.Practices are those shared activities that address fundamental needs of humankind and creation and that, woven together, form a way of life. The twelve practices explored in this book are practices that human beings simply cannot do without, particularly at this time in history.This book will stimulate your imagination. It will encourage you to reflect. It initiates a conversation that will spread into many contexts, each of which presents unique opportunities for noticing, discussing, and living the practices of faith."

In Teaching and Christian Practices several university professors describe and reflect on their efforts to allow historic Christian practices to reshape and redirect their pedagogical strategies. Whether allowing spiritually formative reading to enhance a literature course, employing table fellowship and shared meals to reinforce concepts in a pre-nursing nutrition course, or using Christian hermeneutical practices to interpret data in an economics course, these teacher-authors envision ways of teaching and learning that are rooted in the rich tradition of Christian practices, as together they reconceive classrooms and laboratories as vital arenas for faith and spiritual growth.

Why is the very kind of knowledge that people need to live well - practical wisdom - often the least understood, the hardest to learn, and the most devalued kind of knowledge? In this book five distinguished practical theologians examine the wisdom that is basic for faithful Christian living, question why it has been largely devalued, and advocate for its renewal. After first showing several concrete situations in which this kind of wisdom is visible - marriage, church, community, culture, and more - the authors then delve into the reasons for the decline of practical wisdom and set forth constructive cases for its renewal through biblical imagination and spiritual practice.

In a time when academic theology often neglects the lived practices of the Christian community, this volume seeks to bring balance to the situation by showing the dynamic link between the task of theology and the practices of the Christian life. The work of thirteen first-rate theologians from several cultural and Christian perspectives, these informed and informative essays explore the relationship between Christian theology and practice in the daily lives of believers, in the ministry of Christian communities, and as a needed focus within Christian education. Contributors: - Dorothy C. Bass Nancy Bedford Gilbert Bond Sarah Coakley Craig Dykstra Reinhard Hutter L. Gregory Jones Serene Jones Amy Plantinga Pauw Christine Pohl Kathryn Tanner Miroslav Volf Tammy Williams-