Revised and updated edition of the bestselling leadership guide for pastors as well as those on their path to ordained ministry.

Growing Down explores the theological and psychological implications of humanity's fascination with technology. Author Jaco Hamman examines how our virtual relationships with and through tablets and phones, consoles and screens, have become potentially addictive substitutes for real human relationships. At the base of the technological revolution, as Hamman shows, are abiding theological questionsaquestions about what it means to be and to become a person in a technological world. Hamman argues that the appeal of today's communications technologies, especially the need to be constantly connected and online, is deeply rooted in the most basic ways humans develop. Human relationship with technology mirrors the holding environment established between young childrenandtheir primary caregivers. The virtual world plays upon humanity's deep yearning to reestablish that primary life-giving environment and to recall those first loving and caring relationships. By handling a phone and engaging online, humans revisit the exhilaration, fear, relief, and confidence of belonging, discovering, and gaining knowledge.Technology affords a space where the self can play, feel alive, and be real. Growing Down draws together theology, anthropology, neuroscience, object relations theory (especially the work of D. W. Winnicott), and empirical research to identify necessary intelligences for human flourishing in an increasingly virtual world. Humans can flourish in the face of the continued onslaught of rapid technological advancesaeven if they must grow down to do so.

Explores the ways of being and becoming informed by the life-giving and balance-inducing power of play.

Description: Tension in the Tank meets us where we are on a faith journey that includes doubt and pain. Here is a voice that speaks to the beauty and value of interfaith understanding and liberal social values while digging deep into the heart of Christian mysticism. If we are living a spirituality that matters, it will affect the way we treat ourselves and the way we treat each other. Tension in the Tank is about faith that is relevant, secure, and ever-evolving. It is a guidebook for building meaningful relationships with Spirit, self, and each other. Radically open to possibility and wonder, Tension in the Tank offers the opportunity and the challenge to live our faith in such a way that the walls between us come down and we become pursuers and enactors of universal justice.

The United Methodist Church (USA) has lost more than 3.3 million members. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has lost more than 2.3 million members since 1971. The Episcopal Church (USA) has lost more than 1.1 million members. The Evangelical Lutheran Church (USA) has lost more than 540,000 members, including a loss of 61,871 members between 2001-"2002. Forty-five churches closed their doors in 2002. The majority of North American Protestant congregations and denominations, says Hamman, have experienced significant losses since the 1960s. Moreover, the dynamic and growing churches that are changing their traditions experience the loss of what was familiar to them. In many churches, losses past and present remain unnamed and unmourned.

Pastoral Virtues for Artificial Intelligence (AI) acknowledges that human destiny is intimately tied to artificial intelligence. AI already outperforms a person on most tasks. Our ever-deepening relationship with an AI that is increasingly autonomous mirrors our relationship to what is perceived as Sacred or Divine. Like God, AI awakens hope and fear in people, while giving life to some and taking livelihood, especially in the form of jobs, from others. AI, built around values of convenience, productivity, speed, efficiency, and cost reduction, serve humanity poorly, especially in moments that demand care and wisdom. This book explores the pastoral virtues of hope, patience, play, wisdom, and compassion as foundational to personal flourishing, communal thriving, and building a robust AI. Biases of determinism, speed, objectivity, ignorance, and apathy within AI's algorithms are identified. These biases can be minimized through the incorporation of pastoral virtues as values guiding AI.