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.

Moltmann has been interested in the ecclesial and societal consequences of systematic theology. From his first major work, Theology of Hope, to his book Experiences in Theology, he has devoted substantive space to what each particular doctrine means for our life in this world, as individuals and as a community. The Transformative Church explores these concerns more deeply, looking at each of his major texts and highlighting themes relevant for a transformative ecclesiology. These themes are augmented by adding the perspectives of a contemporary church movement that reflects, in its practices, many of the same concerns. With these conversation partners, Patrick Oden constructs a more substantive transformative ecclesiology, one that is embedded in this world: we are to become in the church who we are to be in this world, becoming whole in Christ to be a messianic people in any context.

The wilderness in the biblical book of Exodus was not just a geographic place. It was also an experience that involved both the human and the divine. The wilderness was an experience of confusion, doubt, and even rebellion.When a 21st-century Christian community faces its own wilderness, it wrestles with the same issues and joins the children of Israel in crying "How long?" As was the case with IT'S A DANCE (Patrick Oden's first book), HOW LONG? puts theology into an enjoyable, accessible narrative form.

The author uses a fictitious church and fictitious people to write a nonfiction book about the Holy Spirit. Patrick Oden destroys the myth that solid Christian doctrine is only communicated in a didactic style as he shares the conversations of a newspaper journalist and pastor. The personalities of the people and the conversational style turn theology into an enlightening, fascinating read.