Synopsis: This is a chance to explore the meaning of Christian faith for those in and outside of churches: adults who left the church in their youth, the many religious refugees pushed out by churches, as well as those in churches looking for serious reflection. With short chapters written in conversational style, it refuses to dumb down the presentation or offer false promises. There are no tricks, no bait and switch. It simply gives an account of the good news for our time. Christian faith is risky business. It requires that we consider the way the good news is subverted by religion itself and American culture. Most important, it means examining our own resistance to the message of Jesus. In the end, it involves a willingness to participate in a future marked by the unfolding glory of God. Endorsement: "Words Unspoken is a richly written resource, which begins with a deeply sensitive and personal perspective: the parent of post-Christian adult children. From that personal concern, Peter Schmiechen begins, with honesty and vulnerability, as a contemporary pilgrim and theological thinker, giving daunting integrity to each chapter. With the critical insight of a seasoned theologian and teacher, he confronts us with seminal questions that are deeply relevant in our time . . . Yet, it is done with a personal faith and Christian hope. Words Unspoken is a rare gift from a rare theologian." --Nathan D. Baxter, Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania Author Biography: Peter Schmiechen is President Emeritus at Lancaster Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he also taught theology. His writings have focused on the meaning of Jesus Christ and the church, the most recent being Defining the Church for Our Time: Origin and Structure, Variety and Viability (2012). In recent years he has spent time thinking how best to share faith with his children and grandchildren.

Synopsis: The church is broken and we cannot fix it. Faith in God is disconnected from churches. Mainline churches are deeply divided, and their budgets and congregations have diminished, with no agreement for recovery. So what shall we do? It is time to stop talking about the problems and to consider a new vision of the church for our time. This book is a celebration of the church as the community of new life in Christ. It assumes Christ intended to create a community on earth embodying grace and holiness. It begins with a new and inclusive definition of the church as a community enduring in time. It affirms the great variety of churches, all as valid expressions of the new life, and explains how and why churches are formed in different ways. The goal is for churches to celebrate the saving power of Christ and to see the glory of God revealed in the world in our time. Endorsements: "Is there an award for the ecclesiology book of the year? If so, Peter Schmiechen should receive it. He is lucid, theologically informed, pastorally minded, practical, and responsibly ecumenical. The Church, he argues, is not a voluntary society of the like-minded, but a community of God's gift and promise. The empirical Church is flawed, and church-dividing issues abound; yet, the Church remains a community of hope and an agent of transforming power." --Alan P. F. Sell, author of Convinced, Concise, and Christian "Peter Schmiechen wades into the current crisis of the church. He is peculiarly equipped to do so, deeply grounded in the ecumenical theology of Mercersburg and long situated in the matrix of dispute in his (and my) own church. He reflects upon the ways in which our pet notions have often reduced the gospel to manageable ideology, and the capacity and readiness of the gospel to take many forms, formulations, and practices. This is a sober and realistic, but powerfully hopeful invitation to rethink the faithfulness of the church in its great diversity." --Walter Brueggemann, author of The Prophetic Imagination "Though many today distance themselves from institutional expressions of religion, saying they are 'spiritual but not religious, ' Peter Schmiechen argues convincingly that faithfulness to Christ necessarily involves an affirmation of the church and its institutional forms. Schmeichen believes we are at a place today where we can appreciate, without defensiveness, the diverse ways in which Christians have sought to embody the central Christian message. He draws on this diversity to propose a unified, inclusive, and transformative form of the church." --Jackson Carroll, author of As One With Authority "Peter Schmiechen boldly declares that the current malaise of North American Protestant churches is not a failure to develop new programs, worship styles, or evangelistic strategies. Rather, the problem is theological: it is a lack of clarity about the basic good news of Christianity. Schmiechen's proposal that churches need to incarnate the theme of new life in Christ in their institutional practices is both shockingly simple and richly provocative." --Lee C. Barrett, author of Kierkegaard Author Biography: Peter Schmiechen is President Emeritus of Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in Christian Theology from Harvard University and is the author of Saving Power: Theories of Atonement and Forms of the Church (2005) and Christ the Reconciler: A Theology for Opposites, Differences, and Enemies (1996). He lives with his wife, Janet, in Lancaster.

Jesus' death and resurrection are undeniably central to the Christian faith. But how, precisely, is their significance to be understood?

Concerned to reinvigorate the church's teaching on the cross, the resurrection, and salvation -- the atonement -- Peter Schmiechen here invites readers to rediscover the wealth of the Christian tradition. In "Saving Power he makes ample use of primary sources to unpack ten distinct theories of atonement, welcoming aspects of each rather than championing only one. Along the way, he demonstrates that while most Christians assume the basic theme of atonement to be sin and forgiveness, other powerful themes -- liberation from oppressive powers, reconciliation in the face of division, and the hope of resurrection in the face of death, for instance -- also deserve to be studied and preached.

Affirming orthodox teaching while offering a positive take on marginal views, "Saving Power is a crucial resource for anyone who seeks a fuller understanding of Christ's work.

After first analyzing the dysfunctional state of America's churches - with their capitulation to modern culture -Schmiechen argues convincingly that the church can be renewed only through the recovery of Christ's gospel of reconciliation. "Schmiechen, a United Church of Christ minister, analyzes the internal divisions and the capitulation to modern culture that he believes characterizes the ecumenical Protestant church today and issues a call for a theological reform of the doctrine of the church. Recent attempts to renew the church have been unsuccessful, he claims, because they have not adequately addressed the peculiar dilemma Protestantism is caught in: it stands for individual freedom yet opposes individualistic piety, and it speaks of a social gospel yet fears institutions. In other words, the church is incapable of affirming the faith and order essential for community. For Protestantism to survive, Schmiechen argues, it must reclaim its vision of the gospel as the liberating and unifying power of God.To this end, the author develops a theology of reconciliation based on a theory of atonement he derives from "1 Corinthians" and offers a vision of the church in which differences can co-exist and the church can grow in the unity of Christ. " - Publishers Weekly