For decades, post-independence Africa has been marked by conflicts, violence, and civil wars leading to a displacement of civilian populations and numerous humanitarian crises. For example, the Somali war, the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and the Darfur conflict in Western Sudan illustrate this phenomenon. In these situations, protecting the basic human rights of security, subsistence, the liberties of social participation, and the physical movement o ...
Drawing on the hermeneutical reflections of John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, and Mikhail Bakhtin, Cartwright challenges the way twentieth-century American Protestants have engaged the «problem» of the use of scripture in Christian ethics, and issues a summons for a new debate oriented by a communal approach to hermeneutics. By analyzing particular ecclesial practices that stand within living traditions of Christianity, the «politics» of scri ...
The story of secularization and religious disestablishment in American higher education is told from the standpoint of a lively community of professors, students, and administrators at the University of Michigan in the late nineteenth century. This campus culture–one of the most closely watched of its day–sheds new light on the personal and cultural meanings of these momentous changes in American intellectual and public life. Here we see how rel ...
Colonial Presbyterianism is a collection of essays that tell the story of the Presbyterian Church during its formative years in America. The book brings together research from a broad group of scholars into an accessible format for laymen, clergy, and scholars. Through a survey of important personalities and events, the contributors offer a compelling narrative that will be of interest to Presbyterians and all persons interested in colonial Amer ...
Humans, seeking to understand the nature of reality, have learned to discern life's patterns and to respond to life's vicissitudes by acting wisely, doing what brings happiness and success. The Bible is a record of that journey. It represents the inspired attempt to become wise at the deepest level, living harmoniously with one's community, the earth, and the Creator. Through their inspirational teachings, the sages of the biblica ...
The Roman Catholic Church issued its first, modern, one-volume Lectionary–a book of biblical texts assigned for every day of the year–in 1970 in response to the Second Vatican Council's call for a greater fare of Scripture during Mass. By the time the Lectionary was revised and published between 1998 and 2002, it had grown to four volumes. Because of the revision, many weekday celebrations of saints were assigned texts that had not been so ...
Is Christianity but a selection of stories, as some suppose, or is there more to it than that? Are its adherents guided by something real or simply following their own fancies? That there are communities of Christians is itself real enough, but is their mere existence its own justification? Events like the birth and death of Jesus are for the most part real enough, though they have been overlaid with stories that may at times be helpful symbolis ...
Many feel that work for Christian unity or ecumenism is not especially urgent or important in the complexities of our contemporary world. So many different issues demand the attention of committed Christians–for example, responding to global crises in which people are suffering, developing strong moral stands on a variety of moral problems and challenges, etc. Such issues must remain of major importance to Christians. However, Christians form th ...
A good quotation states an insight so shrewdly that not only do you get it, but you can't seem to forget it. It loves to make you slow down and savor truth. These neat little extended metaphors deserve to be heard, examined, and challenged. Quotations present truth in capsule form. Many reflect the wisdom of earlier times; others bring insights that are fresh and contemporary. Some support the status quo; others challenge it. So They Say ...
