Together: Community as a Means of Grace addresses the concept of community as an avenue to a deeper relationship with God. Using an ecumenical Wesleyan approach, Duggins explores the concept of «God as community» to conclude that bringing people together in almost any setting allows them to grow in God's image. He frames this idea using the historical concept of the «means of grace»: the ordinary ways in which people encounter God. Drawing ...
One of the chief challenges of the Second Vatican Council was to reclaim the meaning of baptism, especially as the foundation of service and mission in the world. Fifty years after the close of that watershed gathering, nineteen distinguished religious leaders and scholars reexamine that challenge and its implications for preaching and ministry today. This book reinvigorates an important conversation. ...
Atonement. For some this word is the heart of the Christian faith. For others, it is irrelevant for Christianity and how they live their Christian lives. Often we do not see «the breadth and depth» of the atonement in the gospel. Christian D. Kettler, in his fourth book on «the vicarious humanity of Christ,» suggests that we consider that the atonement is not only a vicarious death in our place and on our behalf–whether in the form of a «penal s ...
In Adventures in Self-Directed Learning, Dr. Bernard Bull draws from over a decade of research to build a compelling case for the importance of nurturing agency, ownership, and a capacity for self-education in learners. He casts a vision for education in a connected age, offers readers a collection of practical suggestions for how to get started, and also works through common challenges and pitfalls. This is a must read text for anyone who belie ...
The author's theological inquiry is intended to raise questions of interpretation within the camp of openness theology and to direct a discussion on the implications of this movement for the charismatic/Pentecostal community. Open theism or openness theology affirms that the universe is open, the future is not settled, God is essentially relational love, and the risks of love and the threats against it are real. The author digs dee ...
The Anglican Communion is at a crossroads. A tipping point has been reached on the fulcrum, where things can no longer be kept in balance. A choice must be made between two competing worldviews, which are at heart radically different. The time has come to decide which set of beliefs and practices will be adhered to and taught in the church, and which vision will be offered to the world as the Christian faith. Are we sinners brought back into rel ...
Acceptance of Christianity in Southern Polynesia during the eighteenth century proceeded rapidly without missionary activity. This fact attracted the attention of Alan Tippett, who served for twenty years as an Australian missionary to the Fiji Islands. What he found was that the key to their conversion lay in the fact that, without missionary presence, the south sea islanders responded to demonstrations of what Tippett learned to call «power en ...
This is a volume written for persons who live in the mental world of modernity–that is, in a world that cherishes (1) freedom as the core of being human; (2) critical-thinking reason as the arbiter of what to affirm or not; (3) history, process, and dynamism at the heart of human life and society; and (4) dialogue with those who think differently yet who sense that there is somehow more to life, to reality, than meets the eye: that there is a de ...
The art of mentoring, like all great arts, is a grace to be received, a gift to be given, and a skill that can be learned and practiced. This book explores the practice and grace of that art. The pastors in these pages share their hard-won experience of mentoring and being mentored, their wobbles and successes, insights and wisdom harvested from years in the vineyard. ...