Books published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Greater knowledge of women's experience, this book argues, will enable all caregivers-whether female or male-to provide better pastoral care when the gender-specific presuppositions of that care are examined. Nine women collaborate to explore how women's life experience both necessitates and models a new, systematic pastoral care. It is the first book to address the broad range of women's pastoral care needs.

In tracing the development of three mythological themes - the conflict between the god of order and the chaos of the sea, the rhythm of fertility and sterility in terms of divine and human sexuality, and that quality of space known as the sacred mountain - Foster R. McCurley examines religious texts from Mesopotamia, Canaan, and Egypt, cultures which had direct contact with ancient Israel. The use of these themes in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is discussed, with the thematic development providing a basis for exploring the relationship between myth and history in biblical faith.

What are the origins of the born-again movement? How does the born-again experience relate to Baptism? Why do fundamentalists argue the literal inspiration of the Bible? Answers to these questions and many more emerge from the story of the born-again movement. Born Againism places the born-again phenomenon in historical perspective, beginning in the late eighteenth century as a movement propelled by speculations about the end time (millennialism). When millennialists merged with fundamentalists and charismatics, a powerful movement was born.In direct non-technical language, Gritsch offers an ecumenical focus that should promote honest dialogue and critical reflection on a vital aspect of contemporary religious life. An annotated bibliography of suggested additional readings is provided.

* The ideal supplemental text in courses on the Hewbrew Bible now thoroughly updated * New chapters on Gender Criticism, Cultural Criticism, and Post-colonial Criticism * Includes a glossary and index of ancient sources, topics, and names

This book explores the relationship between the practices of pastoral care and the practices of spiritual direction with the aim of enabling pastoral caregivers to draw upon the guiding principles, resources and techniques of spiritual direction within the Christian tradition. With an emphasis on both "practice" and "presence," the book reclaims the tradition of "soul care" for the pastoral ministry, thereby complementing the medical, or crisis intervention, model of pastoral care with a wellness/growth model of pastoral care.Listening for the Soul: Challenges clergy to take seriously the relationship between pastoral care and spiritual direction.Integrates theological and psychological insights with issues of spiritual life and formation.Includes a chapter on the spiritual formation of children.Provides practical guidance for integrating spiritual direction with pastoral care.Tends to the pastoral caregivers own needs for spiritual deepeningIncludes reflection questions and case studies to enable the text to function on both the individual reader and classroom levels.

Reinhold Niebuhr argued that one of the fundamental challenges to human existence is the anxiety caused by our desire to be perfect and godlike while knowing we are limited and mortal. This book explores how human adornment practices negotiate anxieties about our finitude. Through our clothing, we often shield ourselves from feeling our human frailty and from having others detect our emotional, physical, and spiritual vulnerabilities. Looking at the incarnation as a form of "dress," Saracino claims that getting naked with Jesus or embracing our vulnerability is our only hope at creating life-giving relationships with God and others in the global world.

Worship is most meaningful and engaging, according to Frank Senn, when it is done, as Paul says, "decently and in good order." This means that good liturgy must strive to avoid makeshift arrangements and disorder. But it must also be attuned to its context, sensitive to the needs and resources of local communities of faith. How does one do that? Designed as a general introduction to Christian liturgy, this book explores the meaning, history, and practice of worship in Eastern and Western, Catholic and Protestant traditions. Its chapters cover the theology of worship, the historical development of Eucharist and the Prayer Offices, the lectionary and customs of the church year, other sacramental rites, and the use of music and the arts. As such, it is a perfect textbook for students seeking to understand the basics of liturgical worship, as well as a reliable guide for worship leaders. Written in the form of a handbook and designed with questions and answers for easy reference, Introduction to Christian Worship will help both novice and experienced worship leaders make informed decisions in their liturgical choices and practices.

Ethical reflection about sexuality is increasingly controversial, complex, and conflicted. After centuries of conflicting messages from the tradition, Christians are understandably confused about how exactly the good news pertains to sexuality. Using a series of provocative questions, Marvin Ellison, a pioneer in contemporary Christian rethinking of sexuality and sexual ethics, attempts to increase readers' skills and confidence for engaging in ethical deliberation about sexuality. Redrawing the conventional, rule-based sexual morality, often rigidly and legalistically applied or broadly ignored, entails transcending fear and shame to redraw the sexual map, he argues. Ellison works to affirm a more relationally focused ethical framework, from which to deliberate about premarital and extramarital sex, marriage and divorce, homosexuality, contraception, abortion, spousal abuse, and sex -education. Students and all adults will welcome this book for enabling their personal clarity, approach to relationships, and mindful participation in respectful moral debate.

Does Martin Luther have anything to say to us today? Nearly five-hundred years after the beginning of the Reformation, Hans-Martin Barth explores that question in this comprehensive and critical evaluation of Luthers theology. Rich in its extent and in its many facets, Barths didactically well-planned work begins with clarifications about obsolete and outdated images of Luther that could obstruct access to the Reformerfor example, the question of the Peasants' War and Luther's attitude toward other religions and superstition. The second part covers the whole of Martin Luther's theology. Having divided Luthers theology into twelve sub-sections, Barth ends each one of these with an honest and frank assessment of what today can be salvaged and whats got to go. In the final section he gives his summation: an honestly critical appropriation of Luthers theology can still be existentially inspiring and globally relevant for the twenty-first century.

The place and significance of Martin Luther in the long history of Christian anti-Jewish polemic has been and continues to be a contested issue. The literature on the subject is substantial and diverse. While efforts to exonerate Luther as "merely" a man of his times who "merely" perpetuated what he had received from his cultural and theological tradition have rightly been jettisoned, there still persists even among the educated public the perception that the truly problematic aspects of Luther's anti-Jewish attitudes are confined to the final stages of his career. It is true that Luther's anti-Jewish rhetoric intensified toward the end of his life, but reading Luther with a careful eye toward "the Jewish question," it becomes clear that Luther's theological presuppositions toward Judaism and the Jewish people are a central, core component of his thought throughout his career, not just at the end. It follows then that it is impossible to understand the heart and building blocks of Luther's theology (justification, faith, liberation, salvation, grace) without acknowledging the crucial role of "the Jews" in his fundamental thinking. Luther was constrained by ideas, images, and superstitions regarding the Jews and Judaism that he inherited from medieval Christian tradition. But the engine in the development of Luther's theological thought as it relates to the Jews is his biblical hermeneutics. Just as "the Jewish question" is a central, core component of his thought, so biblical interpretation (and especially Old Testament interpretation) is the primary arena in which fundamental claims about the Jews and Judaism are formulated and developed.

Jesus was a Jew and not a Christian. That affirmation may seem obvious, but here an international cast of Jewish and Christian scholars spell out its weighty and often complex consequences for contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue. Soundings in the Religion of Jesus contextualizes Jesus and the writings about him that set the stage for Jewish-Christian relations for the next two thousand years.Of equal importance, this book considers the reception, celebration, and (too often) the neglect of Jesus'' Jewishness in modern contexts and the impact such responses have had for Jewish-Christian relations. Topics explored include the ethics of scriptural translation, the ideological motives of Nazi theologians and other "quests" for the Historical Jesus, and the ways in which New Testament portraits of Jesus both help and hurt authentic Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Champion of martyrs, scourge of heretics, erudite theologian, shrewd politician no account of early Christianity is complete without careful consideration of Irenaeus of Lyons. Here a team of international scholars examines aspects of the saint's life, historical context, engagement with scripture, and his ecclesiastical and theological legacy for succeeding generations.

Caregiving practices in churches often center around listening and giving counsel, making referrals, and creating support groups for specific needs. In Caring Liturgies, Susan Marie Smith proposes that Christian ritual is both a method and a means for helping people through liminal times of transition and uncertainty, even vulnerability and fear. This volume teaches readers to recognize the ritual needs of fellow Christians and thus create post-baptismal rites of passage and healing that might strengthen and support them in the fulfillment of their ministries. The book extends the usefulness of denominational "occasional services" books and other resources by suggesting ways to build a rite around a central symbolic action, pointing out issues of ritual honesty and ethics, and identifying skills and attributes necessary to preparing and leading a rite. Numerous narrative examples help to flesh out the principles and illustrate the key argument: that rituals are necessary means to enable human growth and maturity, both through times of suffering and times of transition, and that ritual-making leaders are central to the ongoing health of the church.

Who was Paul? What did he do? What did he write? Walter F. Taylor sets out to bring together a wealth of contemporary perspectives in a clear and accessible synthesis, bringing to bear on his subject the best of recent social-scientific and cultural-anthropological thinking on Paul. An appendix presents a clear summary of issues related to Paul's thought on gender and sexuality.

Visioning the cosmos through a liberation-oriented lens.

Ecojustice, social justice, and the Christian conscience"This is a grand prophetic book motivated by love and focused on justicesocial justice, ecological justice, and dignity for 'the least of these.' Don't miss it!" Cornel West Union Theological SeminaryThis book is a gift to all . consumers looking for a way out of their addiction. Those of us (myself included) who know our excessive consumption is causing ecological and economic disasters should read Professor Moe-Lobedas new book. It is the best one-volume analysis of our moral dilemma I know of and, even better, it suggests principles and practices to help deal with it. Sallie McFagueVancouver School of Theology"Cynthia Moe-Lobeda's Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological and Economic Transformation takes the form of a powerful contribution to Christian ethics, but in fact it is also a major contribution to anyone in any religious or spiritual tradition who seeks to maintain both a commitment to God and to global healing and transformation. Easily accessible and charming in presentation, deep in its ability to confront difficult issues squarely and in a nuanced way, courageous in insisting that we see reality not only as it is but as it could be if we were willing to be "unrealistic" for a few moments, manifesting daring of thought combined with a pervasive humilitythis is a true classic of spiritual progressive consciousness, packed full of ideas that should be taught in every college and university and religious seminary, every church, synagogue, mosque and ashram!" Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, Tikkun MagazineChair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives"Cynthia Moe-Lobeda's book is one of the strongest statements yet to be made on the intricate connections between ecology and justice. The powerful stories and persuasive arguments lay the groundwork for the necessary transformations ahead. It will be a catalyst for change!" Mary Evelyn Tucker, Forum on Religion and Ecology, Yale UniversityKey Features: Mapping the ethical terrain of an imperiled planetConvincingly showing how ecojustice relates to economic justice Rethinking Christian ethics in light of the ecological crisisThe increasingly pressing situation of Planet Earth poses urgent ethical questions for Christians. But, as Cynthia Moe-Lobeda argues, the future of the earth is not simply a matter of protecting species and habitats but of rethinking the very meaning of Christian ethics. The earth crisis cannot be understood apart from the larger human crisiseconomic equity, social values, and human purpose are bound up with the planet's survival. In a sense, she says, the whole earth is a moral community.Reorienting Christian ethics from its usual anthropocentrism to an ecocentrism entails a new framework that Moe-Lobeda lays out in her first chapters, culminating in a creative rethinking of how it is that we understand morally. With this "moral epistemology" in place, she unfolds her notion of "moral vision" and applies it to the present situation in a full-fledged earth-honoring, justice-seeking Christian ethical stance.

Conozca su Biblia, developed in partnership with the Asociacin para la Educacin Teolgica Hispana and the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission unit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a unique Bible commentary series written in Spanish by leading Hispanic theologians and Bible educators. Justo L. Gonzlez, the General Editor for the series, is a distinguished biblical scholar and the author of numerous books, including Hechos (Acts) in this series.

"Full of personal insights and real life relections on Scripture, this book is a quick read of powerful stories from the words of Christ. Great storytelling permeates our culture, and Bill takes us to teh foundatoins of why the storeis of the Bible resonate within us."

Ten sessions, based on such themes as "accept one another," "serve one another," "teach one another," and "honor one another." Includes a special introductory chapter on "The Power of Community," outlining the core biblical basis for small groups.

Each major life transition gives us a chance, Bankson proposes, "to name what we are here for." Using mythical archetypes, biblical and personal stories, she presents a revealing six-stage soulwork cycle to help us find our calling. A valuable resource for people seeking to nurture their spiritual growth, individually, in groups, or with a spiritual director. Includes a format for a soulwork retreat.