Alice was a raven-haired beauty who fell in love with easygoing James. They dated for about eight years, during which time they were monogamous, sexually intimate, and eventually lived together. They finally married in an elegant weekend celebration only to divorce before their second anniversary. What happened? How indeed can a couple date for so long, act married in most ways, and make such a terrible mistake? What Alice and James did ...
Scan any Old Testament Theology for its entry concerning the Song of Songs and you are likely to put the book down and walk away disappointed. In the majority of resrouces the Song is either missing entirely or is given scant pages that do not justice to its divine message. In this book Mark McGinniss seeks to remedy that situation by demonstrating the depth of theology in this ancient love song concerning desire, passion, and sex. Beyond the si ...
Can the comparison of two theologians vastly separated in space and time help contemporary theologians to think better? This book argues that it can. Specifically, this book argues that the novel and burgeoning discipline of comparative theology is a powerful method for gaining critical insight into our inherited worldviews. More important, it argues that the critical insights gained through comparison can produce constructive theology or, in ot ...
"In these meditations upon Scripture, the author quickly, lightly opens up the sacred text to us in a way that–to my knowledge–has never been attempted in the entire history of the Christian faith. Through irony, pun, parody, spoof, and joke he reads Scripture with tongue in cheek, a rhyme in his pen, and a smile on his face. If you ever wondered what the Bible would sound like if it were written by Ogden Nash (and who hasn't?), here i ...
Struggles for Shalom is a collection of essays by biblical scholars about peace, justice, and violence in ancient Jewish and Christian texts, written to honor the life work of Mennonite scholars Perry B. Yoder and Willard M. Swartley. In this volume, twenty-three authors–colleagues, former students, friends, and others influenced by Yoder's and Swartley's scholarship–add to the honorees' work in appreciation for their shared focus ...
The current immigration crisis on our southern borders is usually debated from a safe distance. Politicians create a fear of the migrant to garner votes, while academicians pontificate on the topic from the comfort of cushy armchairs. What would happen if instead the issue were explored with one's feet on the ground–what the author calls an «ethics of place»? As an organic intellectual, De La Torre writes while physically standing in solida ...
Worship is a dominant theme in the Old Testament. It is spoken about not only to provide words for worship, guidance about its leadership, or to express censure for its inadequacies, but also to depict places for worship and their significance, and to speak of the high calling of those who had particular roles and responsibilities in worship. Worship for the Old Testament authors has a vital place in the covenantal relationship between the Lord ...
This volume is the first attempt to explore Charles Wesley's understanding of «participation in the divine nature,» often described by the church fathers as deification and/or theosis, within the full spectrum of his prose and poetical compositions and in relation to many of the church fathers. While the Eastern Church has been the primary harbinger of the doctrine of deification from the patristic era to the present, Charles Wesley's ...
Border crossing is a significant experience in the global era when many people cross borders, whether in cultural, geopolitical, relational, or existential terms. Border crossing can provide a great opportunity for spiritual growth, yet it is often a violent and dangerous process. Thus there is a need to explore border-crossing spirituality: to examine how various aspects of border crossing impact human life, analyze why border crossing happens, ...