Social Theology

A raw plea for intervention. The most common prayer in the Bible. And—most remarkably—a request that God has never failed to grant . . . often in surprising ways that have radically transformed individual lives and the trajectory of history itself. In The Mercy Prayer, Robert Gelinas explores the richness of God’s unfailing compassion by blending biblical insights with penetrating personal encounters and keen insight into familiar stories. The result is a practical guide for receiving the mercy we all desperately need and letting it flow from us into the lives of others.

Not long ago, most White American Christians believed that Jesus blessed slavery. God wasn't bothered by Jim Crow. Baby Jesus had white skin. Meet Plantation Jesus: a god who is comfortable with bigotry and an idol that distorts the message of the real Savior. That false image of God is dead, right? Wrong, argue the authors of Plantation Jesus, an authoritative new book on one of the most urgent issues of our day.

Der große Theologe, Arzt und Musiker Albert Schweitzer veröffentlichte seine "Gespräche über das Neue Testament" in den Jahren 1901 bis 1904, als er Privatdozent in Straßburg war, in der kleinen Zeitung Evangelisch-protestantischer Kirchenbote für Elsass-Lothringen. Gemeinsames Ziel der 33 kurzen, predigtähnlichen Texte ist es, eine Anleitung zu geben, "wie ein erwachsener Christ selbständig für sich die Bibel lesen soll".

In Green Like God, Jonathan Merritt gently and insightfully observes that the Creator has a lot to say about environmental problems like unclean water, mindless materialism, wastefulness, over consumption, and pollution. In fact, Jonathan writes that "in the book of Genesis, God went green and never looked back." Relying heavily on the Scriptures, Jonathan gives the case for green living, but not because it's trendy and hip.

The world is angry and afraid. Humankind is on a trajectory away from God, against His Church and into increasing darkness—with the darkest hours still ahead. Yet the Father has an unexpected and compassionate answer for the rise of ugliness and violence: a beautiful, unified Church of wholehearted followers of Jesus who will put Him on full display for all the world to see. Discover how to become part of a Church that counters anger with kindness and mercy, loves its enemies, overcomes bitterness and offense, and lays hold of the Lord's beauty via revelation and transformation.

A cross-section of five frontline leaders in the controversial emerging church movement shed informative light on their beliefs and basic message to help us understand whether it’s all about new methods or a new message or both.

After her brother died unexpectedly and her mother moved into a dementia-care facility, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori Erickson felt called to a new quest: to face death head-on, with the eye of a tourist and the heart of a pastor. Blending memoir, spirituality, and travel, Near the Exit examines how cultures confront and have confronted death by investigating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Mayan temples, Colorado cremation pyres, Day of the Dead celebrations, Maori settlements, and tourist-destination graveyards.

For C. S. Lewis, reason and logic are the sensible way to approach faith and ethics. Much of the 20th century's ills are caused by ill-founded beliefs and opinions. Lewis' original approach remains as vital today as ever. He is able to take the most convoluted subject, turn it side on and shed bright illumination on it. To be able to see along things rather than at them - just like a beam of sunlight that invades the darkness of a toolshed - is, to Lewis, the way to understanding.

Stem-cell research. Cloning. Genetic engineering. Today, discoveries in biotechnology are occurring so rapidly that we can barely begin to address one ethical debate before another looms overhead. This brave new world we've entered is a daunting one as well, with disturbing implications for the sanctity of life and for human nature itself. How should we respond as Christians?

The current controversy over teaching evolution in the public schools has grabbed front-page headlines and topped news broadcasts all across the United States. In the Beginning investigates the movement that has ignited debate in state legislatures and at school board meetings. Reaching back to the origins of antievolutionism in the 1920s, and continuing to the promotion of intelligent design today, Michael Lienesch skillfully analyzes one of the most formidable political movements of the 20th century.

The deeper I grow in my own faith as a Christian, the greater my desire to explore. My faith whets my appetite for discovering what God is doing in and through the world each and every day. This book is a chronicle of some of the most important lessons I have learned thus far. I write to encourage my fellow nomads who, like me, so often feel alone in their wanderings yet are a part of a much larger caravan of fellow wanderers seeking to discover for ourselves the meaning and mysteries of life.

This is a First Edition English translation of a series of seven lectures, entitled The Impulse for Renewal in Culture and Science, and published in German as, Erneuerungs-Impuls fuer Kultur und Wissenschaft. This course was organized by the Federation of Anthroposophical University Work and the Berlin Branch of the Anthroposophical Society. It was the aim of the organizers, through lectures by various speakers, to "give an impression of what suggestions in various fields can be given by anthroposophy." For each course day, Rudolf Steiner gave the introductory lecture. In these lectures, ...

Digital innovation has rapidly changed the landscape of sexual experience in the 21st century. Rules-based sexual ethics, subscribed to by many Christians, are unable to keep up with new developments and, more often than not, seem effective at little other than generating shame.

This book contains a collection of academic articles ranging from African-American history, Jewish history, early Christian history, the New Testament, Patristic history, medieval history, and the history of the Reformation. This academic work is a bold quest to capture the essence of history and canon as phenomenalized in the human experience. Scholars and students of history, religion, literary criticism, sociology, anthropology, humanities, and theology will surely benefit from reading this book.

With the polarization of every issue under the sun, along with the platform of social media, tensions have never been greater concerning issues of cultural engagement. In How to Think Like Jesus, Gregory Gibson argues that Christians need to move away from legalism and stop dividing over tertiary issues. Gibson states, “Swimming in the ocean of legalism is like swimming in the kid area, or kiddy pool, at your local neighborhood swimming pool. You can never really get fully under the water. The water comes up to your knees (if that). You are surrounded by other children."

Ben Lindsay offers eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the status quo in white majority churches. Filled with examples from real-life stories, including his own, and insightful questions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of race relations in the Church in the UK and shows us how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community.

In the 21st century the basic questions of ethics are no longer the abstract terms of ethical theory, but the concrete and burning issues related to the influence of life sciences, the impact of a globalized economy, and the consequences of present decisions for the future of humankind.

Es casi imposible no hacerse la pregunta: ¿Dónde está Dios en esta pandemia? Esa es la pregunta que John Lennox trata en este nuevo libro escrito desde la sala—¡ahora dónde más!—de su casa en Oxford, Inglaterra. Recordando el estilo conversacional del autor C.S. Lewis en Mero Cristianismo (escrito durante la segunda guerra mundial), este es un libro para el tiempo más desafiante de nuestra generación. Siéntate y acompaña a John Lennox en ¿Dónde está Dios en un mundo con Coronavirus?.

Widely respected pastor and ethicist Robin Lovin offers sage counsel in this helpful book, arguing that to resist the trend of polarization in our church we must rediscover how the gospel teaches us to understand ourselves, our neighbors, and the purpose of politics. With questions for discussion and reflection aligned with the content of each chapter, What Do We Do When Nobody Is Listening? provides an accessible road map for navigating out of the morass of polarization into a brighter future of church unity, during election seasons and beyond.

In Corona Crisis, professor Mark Hitchcock shares how the current coronavirus outbreak is related to the vivid, end-time biblical prophecies about plagues, pestilences, and pandemics. Jesus listed "pestilences in various places" as a sign of his coming (Luke 21:11). In the prophecy of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the fourth rider kills one-fourth of the earth with pestilence and the "wild beasts of the earth".