The importance of baptism within Christian history, theology, and practice is of the first order. Rooted in Christian Scripture, baptism is initiation into Jesus Christ and the sacramental beginning of engagement with the church, the body of Christ. In recent decades, the relationship between baptismal theology and ecclesiology has changed. Rather than focusing solely on the implications of baptism for individuals, the center of theological conv ...
The overall problem raised in this book is that the Western culture of modern rationality, power, and economics departs from a rather narrow, secular and ego-centric worldview. Therefore, it does not recognize the identity of traditional cultures and religions nor social, economic, or ecological justice in relation to the rest of the world. Western religion has, over history, often played a legitimating role for political power, and the ...
Subversive Meals examines the Lord's Supper within the sociopolitical context of first-century Roman domination, and concludes that it was an anti-imperial praxis. Although the Christian communal meal looked much like a typical Roman banquet in structure, with a deipnon and a symposion, it was essentially different. The Roman meal supported the empire's ideology, honored Caesar and the gods, reinforced stratification among the ...
Saul was the first king of Israel (1029-1005 BCE). His life was full of drama and tribulations, and ended tragically. The book of Samuel portrays Saul as a colorful personality with excesses–as the classic tragic hero. Moreover, Saul's excellent virtues qualified him for the monarchy. He had courage and military power. Saul was modest and shy. In contrast to the positive portrayal of Saul in some biblical narrative, many o ...
This collection of essays continues a long and venerable debate in the history of the Christian church regarding the legacy of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. For some, Constantine's conversion to Christianity early in the fourth century set in motion a process that made the church subservient to the civil authority of the state, brought a definitive end to pacifism as a central teaching of the early church, and redefined the chara ...
Congregations, the members who attend them, and the leaders who serve them are too often wounded by the ill effects of bad decision-making. The Pyramid and the Box attempts to answer three primary questions about decision-making in the local church: What is decision-making? Who are the legitimate decision-makers? How do you execute effective decision-making? ...
Clarence B. Jones, close King advisor and draft speechwriter, has done much to reinforce a conservative hijacking of King's image with the publication of his controversial books What Would Martin Say? (2008) and Behind the Dream (2011). King emerges from Jones's books not as a prophetic radical who attacked systemic racial injustice, economic exploitation, and wars of aggression, but as a fiercely conservative figure who would oppose a ...
In the grip of serious numerical decline, American Evangelical churches are now experiencing a missional movement. God is calling his people to return to a biblical lifestyle that goes full circle in continual worship, discipleship, and missions. Mark Powers connects the dots between these three main elements of authentic Christian living. He presents a theology of missional worship, a detailed discipleship plan, and a strategy for local music m ...
In Building a Community of Interpreters Walter Dickhaut argues that the practice of reading (and, by extension, listening) is no less creative than the practice of writing (and speaking); readers and hearers, just as much as writers and speakers, are producers of meaning. Hence, the work of biblical interpretation is the work–the calling–of a community. Focused on the experience of the reader (or hearer) of biblical texts, he explores such quest ...
