Books published by Cascade Books

People worldwide find themselves part of overlapping communities of identity and belonging--racial, political, cultural, sexual, ideological. Some identities, like brand loyalties, are chosen; some, like class identity, are imposed.As followers of Jesus Christ, those called to live iln between the age that is and the age to come, Christians ask what it means to be part of the body of Christ, God's new creation from among the nations, in a world filled with other nations. ""Who--and whose--are we?"" There is no easy answer, no time at which Christians got it completely right. Yet such questions must be addressed, and the stakes are high. Matters of war and peace, exclusion and inclusion, who starves and who does not, the credibility of the gospel itself--all are caught up in the whirl of identities, allegiances imposed or refused, and questions about what ""the church"" might possibly mean in such circumstances.In this book, a distinguished group of scholars from five continents asks, ""How can the church respect the diversity of its members--many nations, cultures, and communities--while maintaining a coherent witness to the kingdom of God that is not undermined by more parochial ideologies or priorities?""Chapter Contributors:Braden AndersonMaria Clara Lucchetti BingemerMichael BuddeMatthew ButlerWilliam CavanaughJose Mario FranciscoPeter GaladzaStanley HauerwasDaniel IzuzquizaSlavica JakelicPantelis KalaitzidisEunice Karanja KamaaraEmmanuel KatongoleDorian LlywelynMartin MenkeAgbonkhianmeghe E. OrobatorA. Alexander Stummvoll

In April 2008 a conference was convened at Rice University that brought together experts in the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The papers discussed at the conference are presented here, revised and updated. The thirteen contributions comprise the keynote address by John Miles Foley; three essays on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible; three on the New Testament; three on the Qur'an; and two summarizing pieces, by the Africanist Ruth Finnegan and the Islamicist William Graham respectively.The central thesis of the book states that sacred Scripture was experienced by the three faiths less as a text contained between two covers and a literary genre, and far more as an oral phenomenon. In developing the performative, recitative aspects of the three religions, the authors directly or by implication challenge their distinctly textual identities. Instead of viewing the three faiths as quintessential religions of the book, these writers argue that the religions have been and continue to be appropriated not only as written but also very much as oral authorities, with the two media interpenetrating and mutually influencing each other in myriad ways.

The origin of the phrase ""the church has left the building"" lies with Elvis. In order to clear halls of his riotous fans after concerts, it was announced that ""Elvis has left the building."" Here, the expression highlights intense change within the church. Not only does the church change for its own existence, it also does so for the life of the world. The church cannot avoid the many past and future changes of our constantly transforming society, demographic changes long in process. What you have before you is a gathering of first-hand reflections--stories really--from a diverse group of Christians, lay as well as ordained. While each has a distinctive experience of the church in our time, all of them have something to say about the many changes in our society and how these are affecting our faith, the parish, and pastoral work.Contributors:Mary BretonNicholas DenysenkoAdam A. J. DeVilleJohn C. FrazierDavid FrostCarol FryerKenneth J. GuestBrett HooverAbbie HuffWongee JohJustin MathewsMaria Gwyn McDowellWilliam C. MillsRobert Corin MorrisSarah Hinlicky WilsonMichael Plekon

"We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness" (Eph 6:12). So Paul warns his Ephesian readers. And yet Paul also says that these principalities and powers were created in and for Christ (Col 1:16) and cannot separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38). What are the principalities and powers of our time? How do we understand them as created, fallen, and disarmed? How does the Christian today engage these powers? These are the questions speakers and participants addressed at the 2014 Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.

The origin of the phrase ""the church has left the building"" lies with Elvis. In order to clear halls of his riotous fans after concerts, it was announced that ""Elvis has left the building."" Here, the expression highlights intense change within the church. Not only does the church change for its own existence, it also does so for the life of the world. The church cannot avoid the many past and future changes of our constantly transforming society, demographic changes long in process. What you have before you is a gathering of first-hand reflections--stories really--from a diverse group of Christians, lay as well as ordained. While each has a distinctive experience of the church in our time, all of them have something to say about the many changes in our society and how these are affecting our faith, the parish, and pastoral work.Contributors:Mary BretonNicholas DenysenkoAdam A. J. DeVilleJohn C. FrazierDavid FrostCarol FryerKenneth J. GuestBrett HooverAbbie HuffWongee JohJustin MathewsMaria Gwyn McDowellWilliam C. MillsRobert Corin MorrisSarah Hinlicky WilsonMichael Plekon

In April 2008 a conference was convened at Rice University that brought together experts in the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The papers discussed at the conference are presented here, revised and updated. The thirteen contributions comprise the keynote address by John Miles Foley; three essays on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible; three on the New Testament; three on the Qur'an; and two summarizing pieces, by the Africanist Ruth Finnegan and the Islamicist William Graham respectively.The central thesis of the book states that sacred Scripture was experienced by the three faiths less as a text contained between two covers and a literary genre, and far more as an oral phenomenon. In developing the performative, recitative aspects of the three religions, the authors directly or by implication challenge their distinctly textual identities. Instead of viewing the three faiths as quintessential religions of the book, these writers argue that the religions have been and continue to be appropriated not only as written but also very much as oral authorities, with the two media interpenetrating and mutually influencing each other in myriad ways.

About the Contributor(s):D.S. Martin is known internationally for his blog Kingdom Poets. His previous poetry collections include Poiema (2008), which was honored as a winner at the Word Awards, and a chapbook, So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed. His poems have appeared in such publications as Anglican Theological Review, The Christian Century, Convivium, Ruminate, Sehnsucht, and Sojourners. He lives in the Toronto area, where he edits the other collections in the Poiema Poetry Series.

About the Contributor(s):Kimlyn J. Bender is Associate Professor of Theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University. He is the coeditor of Theology as Conversation: The Significance of Dialogue in Historical and Contemporary Theology (Eerdmans).

About the Contributor(s):Paul O. Ingram is Professor Emeritus of History of Religions at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington. He is he author of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science (2008), The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue (Cascade Books, 2009), and Theological Reflections at the Boundaries (Cascade Books, 2012).

About the Contributor(s):Moshe Greenberg taught the Bible and Judaica at the University of Pennsylvania from 1954 until 1970 and was professor of Bible at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem until retiring in 1996. He died in 2010. His many publications include: The Hab/piru, Introduction to Hebrew, Biblical Prose Prayer, Studies in the Bible and Jewish Thought, and Ezekiel (2 vols., Anchor Bible).

About the Contributor(s):Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber is also author of The Gendered Pulpit: Sex, Body, and Desire in Preaching and Worship and Embodying the Feminine in the Dances of the World''s Religions. She has a Ph.D. in Art and Religion from the Graduate Theological Union and she has been a clergywoman, professional artist, and dancer since 1999. For more, please visit www.angelayarber.com.

About the Contributor(s):Tex Sample is the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at the Saint Paul School of Theology (Kansas City). Author of ten previous books, his most recent is The Future of John Wesley''s Theology (Cascade, 2012). He is a freelance speaker and workshop leader in the United States and overseas and is active in broad-based organizing in Phoenix, Arizona.