Books published by Cascade Books

Despite astute critiques and available resources for alternative modes of thinking and practicing, individualism continues to be a dominating and constraining ideology in the field of pastoral psychotherapy and counseling. Philip Rieff was one of the first to highlight the negative implications of individualism in psychotherapeutic theories and practices. As heirs and often enthusiasts of the Freudian tradition of which Rieff and others are critical, pastoral theologians have felt the sting of his charge, and yet the empirical research that McClure presents shows that pastoral-counseling practitioners resist change. Their attempts to overcome an individualistic perspective have been limited and ineffective because individualism is embedded in the field''s dominant theological and theoretical resources, practices, and organizational arrangements. Only a radical reappraisal of these will make possible pastoral counseling practices in a post-individualistic mode. McClure proposes several critical transformations: broadening and deepening the operative theologies used to guide the healing practice, expanding the role of the pastoral counselor, reimagining the operative anthropology, reclaiming sin and judgment, nuancing the particular against the individual, rethinking the ideal outcome of the practices, and reimagining the organizational structures that support the practices. Only this level of revisioning will enable this ministry of the church to move beyond its individualistic limitations and offer healing in more complex, effective, and socially adequate ways.""There is simply no finer new scholar working in this field today. All readers will profit substantially from this work, since McClure''s vision of an ecclesial mission committed to social transformation far exceeds the particular issues of pastoral counseling.""--Rodney J. HunterEmory University""Moving Beyond Individualism in Pastoral Care and Counseling is truly groundbreaking in its theological envisioning and analysis of the implications of social location for the structuring of pastoral care. Rarely is serious attention paid to the class implications of our ministries. On that issue Barbara McClure has set a very high standard for us all.""--Mary McClintock-FulkersonDuke University""In this lucid, critical, and constructive book Barbara McClure moves the whole debate about the nature and locus of appropriate pastoral care and counseling on to a new level of analysis and sophistication. The implications of her careful arguments and studies are nothing short of revolutionary. This is a book that should be read and acted upon by anyone who really wants to see pastoral work make a difference in the contemporary world.""--Stephen PattisonUniversity of Birmingham, UK""In Moving Beyond Individualism Barbara McClure offers a brilliantly constructed new synergistic model for pastoral theology and the practices of care that recognizes the more profoundly socio-cultural and relational complexity of human beings and suffering. Her model helps us transcend the theological and social limitations of individualism and provides new resources for engaging in effective care with persons and systems whose distress is shaped by larger social forces.""--Nancy J. RamsayBrite Divinity School""Dr. McClure serves as a helpful conversation partner for pastors serving congregations. By challenging the individualistic models that most of us learned in seminary, she helps us to imagine a more synergistic and prophetic vision for pastoral care that encourages pastors to facilitate healing by drawing connections between the personal and the socio-political, leading us from the safety of our book-lined offices into the risky, vulnerable, and ultimately healing work of changing the world.""--Bradley E. SchmelingSt. John''s Lutheran Church, Atlanta, Georgia.Barbara J. McClure is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Graduate Department of Religion and the Divinity Scho

Since the Renaissance of the 14th through 17th centuries, and particularly since the Enlightenment of the 18th century, the ancient creeds of faith have been under serious fire, and the struggle has not gone well for popular religion in America. The rapid advances made by the physical sciences in the 19th and 20th centuries and the corresponding reliance on scientific accomplishments in American life have been matched by the growing influence of reason in the way Americans think about religion. Except for pockets of resistance, these developments have negatively influenced the practical role of traditional religion in American life. These essays-published over a twenty-year period as newspaper editorials addressed to the general public-confront popular beliefs and morals with the challenge of human reason. At issue in this meeting of faith and reason is nothing less than the nature of religion in the twenty-first century. Will faith embrace reason to create a House where both dwell in harmony or will faith ignore the claims of reason and continue to live in an Enchanted Forest? Each essay, written in the practical language of the streets, attempts to dialogue with the general reader and gently provoke critical thinking on sensitive issues of belief.""Charles Hedrick is a scholar who has come clean. From the ""buckle on the Bible Belt"" comes this honest, intelligent, and creative reflection on the struggle between reason (and/or science) and personal faith. Charlie''s reminder to take our personal absolute truths (house of faith) a little less seriously and enjoy the diversity of thought and experience (enchanted forest) is practical, powerful, and incredibly timely.""--Glenna S. Jackson, Professor, Department of Religion and Philosophy at Otterbein College.""House of Faith or Enchanted Forest? is a personal and lively journey along the path of faith and doubt. Charles Hendrick poses deep questions that for centuries have haunted philosophers, historians, and theologians alike. This book awakens and celebrates critical thinking yet remains warmly accessible and resolutely honest. Anyone who wishes to re-think life''s great questions in light of the changing face of Christianity will find joy in reading this book. Here is an excellent resource for discussion groups, book clubs, and inquiring individuals."" --David Galston, Director of the Eternal Spring Learning Centre, Hamilton, Ontario""Charlie Hedrick asks a lot of questions in this provocative collection of short essays. One specific question that, perhaps, sums up the others, ''Can a critical thinker also be a person of traditional religious faith?'' Spanning a wide range of topics, Hedrick offers readers challenging questions to ponder, rather than easy answers to swallow. Yet, by pondering such questions, careful readers will find themselves closer to honest answers than they were before they read this helpful book."" --J. Bradley Chance, Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, William Jewell CollegeCharles W. Hedrick is Distinguished Profesor of Religion Emeritus at Missouri State University. He is also the author of Parables as Poetic Fiction, When History and Faith Collide, and Many Things in Parables.

Anglicans around the world have responded to the gospel in many different cultural contexts. This has produced different customs and different ways of thinking about church issues. In the process of enculturation Anglicans have found themselves encountering social and political realities as malign forces against which they have had to struggle. As a consequence, the personal and local dynamic in Anglicanism has created not just diversity of custom and mental habits, but it has done so at points that have been vital to the way Anglicans have been committed to the gospel.Conflict and the Practice of Christian Faith looks at the process by which local traditions developed in Christianity and how these traditions have related to other sub-traditions of the universal church. It assesses some specifics of the Anglican experience and argues for a significant re-casting of some prominent elements of that tradition, at the same time clarifying some of the distinctive elements in the Anglican tradition. This leads to a more nuanced appreciation of the force of the social and political framework within which Anglicans have had to work out their salvation and of the different forms of secular society and different understandings of plurality and diversity. It also entails showing how the imperial route to catholicity took no firm root in Anglicanism. Going global has been a significant experiment in Anglican ecclesiology that is by no means over yet. The terms of that experiment lie at the heart of the current Anglican debates. The book will be of interest to Christians generally who belong to faith traditions spread across different cultures. It is also a case study of the issues of global reach and local tradition.""In this wise and erudite book, Bruce Kaye provides a constructive way forward for Anglicans and all Christians to negotiate how to find unity without denying our necessary differences. In particular, Kaye draws us into the mystery of Christ''s universal Lordship so that we can see how locality is a necessary expression of the cosmic character of Christ''s cross. Kaye also provides an extremely important account of Anglican identity beginning with Bede that frees us from the unhappy political alternatives of modernity. I know of no more hopeful book for the future of the Anglican Communion.""--Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School ""There are few Anglicans in the world who can write with such clarity about the global Communion and few theologians who can range with such confidence across the fields of history, sociology and philosophy. This is a beautifully crafted book that reveals Dr Kaye''s wide reading and reflects his deep thinking. It will persuade Anglicans of all affiliations to think again about their Church and will help non-Anglicans to make sense of the challenges and the conflicts that every Christian community must face as the local expression of a universal faith. This is a fine book from a gifted theologian and an accomplished writer. It is highly recommended.""--Tom Frame, Director, St Mark''s National Theological Centre""Bruce Kaye continues to be one of the most astute and accomplished thinkers on ecclesiology and world Christianity today. In this book he uses the case of the current challenges before the Anglican Communion to present an understanding of the catholicity of the Church that honors the realities of both the universal and the personal. Here is a defense of plurality and diversity that goes beyond political correctness to the heart of the Gospel. Anglicans, global Christians, and anyone interested in the intersection between faith and globalization will profit greatly from this book."" --The Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Angus Dun Professor of Mission and World Christianity, Episcopal Divinity SchoolBruce Kaye was General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Australia from 1994 to 2004. After studying in Sydney he took a doctorate in Basel and

Never before has the problem of evil been a more urgent subject for our reflection. The Yahwist confronts the issue through a sequence of stories on the progressive deterioration of the divine-human relationship in Genesis 2-11. In Genesis 4 he narrates the initial slaughter of one human being by another, and strikingly, it is described as fratricidal. Onslaught Against Innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist provides a close reading of J''s story by using literary criticism and psychological criticism. It shows that the biblical author has more than an ""archaeological"" design. His characters--including God, Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel, plus minor characters--are paradigmatic. They allow J to proceed with a fine analytical feel for the nature of evil as performed by ""homo"" as ""homini lupus."" No imaginative ""mimesis"" of evil has ever been recounted with such an economy of means and such depth of psychological insight.""Among Scripture interpreters, Andre LaCocque is a singular force because of his generative and restless mind that always seeks a new angle on the text. Here he continues his close reading of the early Genesis materials-this time the Cain and Abel narrative. LaCocque is an urbane intellectual who knows the world of myth and the critical claims of psychology. He is, at the same time, a most able and cunning reader of texts. The outcome of his interpretation is a vigorous fresh reading of Genesis 4 as a primal statement of failure and possibility in Western culture. This book is an offer of his rich, suggestive interpretation and an example of how to connect what is ancient and thick to contemporary life.""-Walter Brueggemann, author of A Pathway of Interpretation""In this remarkable book, Andre LaCocque uses insights from literature, art and psychology to probe the ancient story of Cain and Abel. He argues for a dialogic view of God, which respects human freedom, and he uncovers the roots of human violence in the quest for immortality. This is a first-rate, highly original, contribution to biblical theology.-John J. Collins, author of Does the Bible Justify Violence?""The master of a truly extraordinary range of techniques of interpretation, Andre LaCocque is able to extract deep theological, psychological, and moral meanings out of a deceptively simple and often under-interpreted chapter of the Bible. This sophisticated yet accessible book will repay the attention of many types of readers-Jewish or Christian, religious or secular, with training in Biblical Studies or without.""-Jon D. Levenson, author of Creation and the Persistence of Evil""LaCocque presents a literary-critical analysis of the myth of Cain and Abel, exploring its anthropological, theological, and psychological dimensions. The resources he draws upon are classical exegetical studies, but additionally Ellul, Girard, Jung, Kant, Kierkegaard, Levinas, Nietzsche, Ricoeur, Sartre, and others. Students and scholars-and also the ordinary reader of the Bible-will greatly profit from this book, which I highly recommend to all.""-Walter Vogels, author of Biblical Human Failures""It was said that William James wrote like a novelist and that his brother, Henry James, wrote like a psychologist. Andre LaCocque writes like both, adding to the mix the perspectives of anthropology, linguistics, historiography, and literary-criticism. Rarely have I stepped into a volume of biblical scholarship with the sense of beginning a journey into undisclosed depths of a tale I had known for years, surrounded by a chorus of voices ranging from Aristotle to Ricoeur, from Freud to Voegelin, from the Yahwist (''the greatest story teller in the Hebrew Bible'') to Dostoevsky. The denouement leads to a penetrating, sobering, yet hopeful revisioning of the Cain and Abel saga as a story profoundly embedded within Judaeo-Christian cultural consciousness."" -Wayne G. Rollins, author of Soul and PsycheAndre LaCocque is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Chicago

How does the Bible shape the perspective from which Christians view politics, the manner in which they engage in public debate, and the strategies they adopt when they translate faith into action? In Political Engagement as Biblical Mandate, Hanson suggests that many believers give insufficient thought to the basic principles that biblical study contributes to the lives of those who simultaneously seek to live in obedience to the central confessions of the Christian faith and to engage constructively in the life of a nation guided by the First Amendment and populated by an increasingly religiously diverse citizenry.""A genuine manifesto! But one charged with and rooted in the words of Scripture, calling the church to a renewed faithfulness in its commitment to the well-being of the human community. Hanson''s passionate convictions are matched by his openness to other views. Like the prophets of old, he sets forth a strong critique of our inattention to the sociopolitical world, but that critique is on the way to an imaginative and biblical vision of the way it should and can be. Some readers may find themselves uncomfortable at times, but that is the reason they should keep reading.""--Patrick D. MillerPrinceton Theological SeminaryPaul D. Hanson is Florence Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity at Harvard University. He is the author of numerous works, including The People Called, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, Dynamic Transcendence, and The Diversity of Scripture.

Ethical discourse about the institution of voting rarely includes the option of abstaining for principled reasons. This collection of nine articles widens the discussion in that direction by giving readers a new question: At what point and on what grounds might one choose not to vote as an act of conscience? Contributors offer both ethical and faith-based reasons for not voting. For some, it is a matter of candidates not measuring up to high standards; for others it is a matter of reserving political identity and allegiance for the church rather than the nation-state. These writers--representing a wide range of Christian traditions--cite texts from diverse sources: Mennonites, Pentecostals, and pre-Civil Rights African Americans. Some contributors reference the positions of Catholic bishops, Karl Barth, or John Howard Yoder. New Testament texts also figure strongly in these cases for ""conscientious abstention"" from voting. In addition to cultivating the ethical discussion around abstention from voting, the contributors suggest alternative ways beneficially to engage society. This volume creates a new freedom for readers within any faith tradition to enter into a dialogue that has not yet been welcomed in North America.People often forget that voting can be a coercive practice, just to the extent it justifies a majority''s silencing of minorities. We should therefore be grateful that these essays raise an issue that too often goes undiscussed.--Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School, Duke UniversityIf the definition of a good book is that it challenges long-held and cherished opinions while inspiring readers to think new thoughts and imagine new possibilities, then this is a great book--and one that all American Christians (in particular) need to read! This diverse collection of excellent essays serves as a prophetic call for American Christians to wake up from our political slumber and realize how we''ve been seduced by the idols of nationalism and political power.--Greg Boyd, author of The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church (2006)Half the electorate typically stays home on election day, and not an eyebrow is raised. But if one suggests that people shouldn''t vote for religious reasons, be prepared to run for cover--you''re guaranteed a firestorm of outrage and indignation. The ""sacred right to vote"" still generates powerful emotions, even among those who don''t make it to the shrine on a regular basis. And that''s why the Christian community owes a debt to Ted Lewis and his contributors for raising the uncomfortable question of whether voting may be incompatible with the practice of Christian discipleship. Electing Not to Vote is a provocative but respectful collection that deserves serious attention from Christians of all sorts.""--Michael L. Budde, Department of Political Science, DePaul UniversityTed Lewis works as an acquisitions editor at Wipf and Stock Publishers and writes articles and book reviews for Mennonite periodicals. He also manages the Restorative Justice Program at Community Mediation Services in Eugene, Oregon, and provides mediation services and conflict transformation workshops for faith-based communities.

Should Christians w00t or wail about the scope and power of modern entertainment? Maybe both. But first, Christians should think theologically about our human passion to be entertained as it relates to the popular culture that entertains us. Avoiding the one-size-fits-all celebrations and condemnations that characterize the current fad of pop culture analyses, this book engages entertainments case by case, uncovering the imaginative patterns and shaping power of our amusements. Individual chapters weave together analyses of entertainment forms, formats, technologies, trends, contents, and audiences to display entertainment as a multifaceted formational ecology.""Brent Laytham carefully analyzes the social and theological problems attached to entertainment as it has become wedded to technology. But this is neither a screed against its dangers nor a doomsday resignation to its hegemonic power. Rather, Laytham asks us to keep entertainment in its proper place in God''s economy, practicing resistance to its idolatrous tendencies while embracing it as a ''trivial pursuit'' that acknowledges God as ''the giver of laughter, pleasures, and joy.''""--L. Edward Phillips, Emory University""Witty, wistful, and wickedly provocative, Brent Laytham''s theological investigation into the cultural phenomena of entertainment, technology, and media is a surefire conversation starter. Whether for the college classroom, the seminary seminar, or the Christian education class in the church basement, this book is certain to engage the imagination and faith of its readers.""--Todd Johnson, Fuller Theological Seminary""Are we amusing ourselves to death? That enduring question is reworked in fresh and insightful ways as Laytham skillfully navigates a new era of technological pastimes and pleasures. The formative power of our cultural amusements is met with keen theological analysis, and the result is a book that is eminently useful and--dare I say--vastly entertaining.""--Debra Dean Murphy, West Virginia Wesleyan College""A generation of theologians has been worried about the deforming practices of the liberal state. What we really need to worry about are its games. The devil is in its bread and circuses. In this wise, accessible book Brent Laytham offers an engaged theological analysis of our entertainments and distractions, inviting us to follow Jesus with new intentionality.""--James K. A. Smith, Calvin College""Brent Laytham is one of the most creative and substantive theologians working today. In this work he directs his considerable skills to a theological analysis of technology and culture. It is a delightful read and a profound critique. It deserves to be read and discussed widely within the church, the academy, and any other place where people gather to seek truth and wisdom--for there is much of that here.""--D. Stephen Long, Marquette UniversityD. Brent Laytham is Dean of the Ecumenical Institute of Theology of St. Mary''s Seminary and University in Baltimore, and professor of theology there. He is the editor of God Is Not (2004) and God Does Not (2009).

The Ten Commandments belong to the ""classics"" of Western culture. They are an authoritative part of the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures. Since they come to us from an ancient past, it is both necessary and worthwhile to inquire what they may mean for us today. Thorwald Lorenzen contends it is important to hear God''s invitation to an alternative lifestyle: ""you shall not kill,"" ""you shall not commit adultery,"" ""you shall not covet."" His thoughtful reflections on the commandments for today''s tumultuous world begin with the God who ""speaks"" ten word to liberate God''s people from oppression. Grounded in God''s liberating ""yes,"" the ""ten words"" are neither laws nor rules. They are elements for a culture of freedom in which people are invited to celebrate life.""Thorwald Lorenzen presents an inspiring call to embrace freedom as a matter of spiritual inheritance and destiny. Pastors and prophets alike will use this text to sharpen their vision, and every reader will find in it a guide to break free from those chains that bind them.""--David Batstone, author, Professor of Ethics, University of San Francisco, and President, NOT For Sale""Combining exegetical acumen with sharp theological insight, Lorenzen has produced a fresh and deeply profound meditation on the Ten Words of the Torah. Filled with historical and contemporary illustrations, Lorenzen proves that the Decalogue is as relevant, practical, challenging, and disturbing today as ever. Highly readable yet informed by a lifetime of scholarly study, Lorenzen''s book will be immensely valuable to both pastors and laypersons and would make an excellent supplemental classroom text. The appendices on interpreting the Ten Commandments and on making ethical decisions make a book that is already well worth the price a bargain indeed.""--Kent Blevins, Professor, Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Gardner-Webb University""Here is the most careful and relevant study of the Ten Commandments now available. Biblically grounded, theologically astute, Lorenzen''s penetrating treatment of each of the commandments results in constructing a mature, global ethic for Christians. Far from a legalistic list of commands, Lorenzen shows how ''the Ten Words'' function as a blueprint for connecting the dots between a private and social ethic in a pluralistic world.""--D. Dixon Sutherland, Professor of Religious Studies, Director, Christian Ethics Institute, Stetson University""Toward a Culture of Freedom is a superb ethical treatise based on the Ten Commandments. Deeply grounded in scriptures and equipped with an expansive and compassionate experience of today''s world, Professor Lorenzen will help you to discern some solid rocks to stand on in an era when all human foundations seem to be quivering. Though writing from a Christian perspective, he speaks to persons of all faiths and even no faith. Would that every American, nay, every human being, would glean the wisdom she or he will find here.""--E. Glenn Hinson, Professor Emeritus, Baptist Theological Seminary at RichmondThorwald Lorenzen is Professor of Theology at Charles Sturt University; a guest lecturer at St. Mark''s Theological Center and Whitley College, University of Melbourne; and a Principal Researcher within the Public and Contextual Theology Strategic Research Centre (PACT), Charles Sturt University, in Canberra, Australia. He is author of Resurrection and Discipleship: Interpretive Models, Biblical Reflections, Theological Consequences (1995 and 2003) and Resurrection--Discipleship--Justice: Affirming the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Today (2003).

This translation of the Gospel of Thomas represents a departure from the usual literal English of previous publications. It aims at providing a reader-friendly translation of the original Coptic language in contemporary idiomatic English, while remaining true to the complexities of the Coptic. The commentary seeks to clarify each saying as it likely would have been understood in the historical context of the Coptic language during the period of Thomas''s popularity in Egypt. The sayings in Thomas in this period are no longer sayings of the Jewish man Jesus of Nazareth, but they have become sayings of a revelation bearer, the living Jesus, who announces a radical faith for a new age of the church. The historical matrix that best serves to inform the text is found in a continuation, albeit in a radical direction, of the traditional faiths represented in the earliest Christian literature.""Hedrick, himself an expert in non-canonical (""apocryphal"") Gospels, has here presented for a popular audience a free-flowing non-literal (but accurate) translation of The Gospel of Thomas, with a commentary on each saying, followed by an extensive glossary to explain the more technical terms . . . [T]his impressive volume initiates in a readable way the beginner into the scholarly discussion as far as one may wish to go.""--James Robinson, Claremont Graduate University""Professor Hedrick''s clear modern-English translation and commentary will make this important early source for the teachings of Jesus understandable to anyone who is interested in the foundations of Christianity. His commentaries are particularly valuable because they show the many ways that Jesus'' sayings in the Gospel of Thomas relate to Jesus'' sayings in the Bible, as well as how those sayings are similar to other passages in ancient religious literature.""--Stevan Davies, Misericordia University ""A text like the Gospel of Thomas poses special difficulties to a translator: should its apparent obscurity be retained or clarified? Like all best translators, Charles Hedrick has first decided what the text means and then translates accordingly. The result is a fresh, often bold and unexpected, and yet always dependable translation of this important text.""--Ismo Dunderberg, University of Helsinki""Unlocking the Secrets of the Gospel according to Thomas offers a reader-friendly introduction to the Gospel of Thomas that is, at the same time, the product of a career of detailed study of this early gospel. Hedrick''s introduction is both balanced and readable, his new translation of the Coptic text is fresh and idiomatic, and his brief comments on each saying filled with learning. This is ideal for undergraduate teaching and for the general reader.""--John S. Kloppenborg, University of Toronto""While clarifying its numerous relations to antique literature both within and outside the Bible, Hedrick presents Thomas'' Gospel as a collection of sayings that speak for themselves by inviting each reader''s individual response to the transforming wisdom of Jesus as seen by its users from the second century onwards, rather than as a mere historical artifact or aid for determining the character of Jesus'' original message.""--John Turner, University of NebraskaCharles W. Hedrick is Distinguished Emeritus Professor at Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri. He is author of numerous books and articles on subjects relating to New Testament studies. His most recent book is: House of Faith or Enchanted Forest? American Popular Belief in an Age of Reason (Cascade Books, 2009).

From the very beginning there have been Christians who wanted to go all the way--who, rather than asking, ""What must I do to be a Christian?"" asked instead, ""What can I do to be more Christian?"" These highly intentional Christians have had an impact on the development of both Christianity and western civilization that has been completely out of proportion to their numbers. The greatest impact of these Christian has come through the communities of like-minded believers--some of lay evangelicals and others of celibate monastics--formed based upon their common desire to live more intentional Christian lives. Throughout the past twenty centuries, hundreds of groups of both kinds have formed.This probing work tells the story of these communities, both monastic and lay. It is a story that, though often overlooked, is both inspiring and instructive. Above all it is a story that opens the way for greater understanding between two groups of Christians who have long been estranged--Protestant evangelicals and Catholic monastics.""Evangelicals are often accused of being ahistorical because we jump from Paul to Martin Luther without a pause to consider what the Spirit did in between. But every Christian tradition finds some way to draw the line from Jesus to the present. How we tell that story shapes who we are. ''Follow Me'' tells the Christian story in a way that sparks my imagination and gets me excited about who the church is becoming in our post-Christian era. I hope every community of disciples will read it and ask, ''How is God calling us to live the next chapter?''"" --Jonathan Wilson-Hartgroveauthor of To Baghdad and Beyond: How I Got Born Again in Babylon""Kauffman offers us a first installment on the kind of scholarship becoming possible thanks to the stereoscopic perspective of those who are learning to live on both sides of a great river that has long divided Christianity. . . . Unexpected though the news may be, it is the very burden of Kauffman''s book to show us why we should not have been surprised, and would not be surprised, if we read the history of Christianity looking for its broadest unifying patterns rather than for the basis of our separate identities. . . . He has done a service to historian, ecumenist, and renewal-minded Christian alike by looking for the forest not just the trees, surveying the lay of the land, and marking the river that gives it life.""--Gerald W. Schlabachauthor of Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World ViolenceIvan J. Kauffman grew up in one of the oldest surviving lay evangelical communities, the Amish Mennonites. Educated as both a Mennonite and a Catholic he has been active in Mennonite Catholic dialogues from their beginnings in the 1980s, and was a founder of the North American grassroots Mennonite Catholic dialogue, Bridgefolk, which meets regularly at Saint John''s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota. He identifies himself as a Mennonite Catholic.

If the church is more than just a building, what could it mean to live in it--to inhabit it as a way of life? From their location in new monastic communities, Otto, Stock, and Wilson-Hartgrove ask what the church can learn from St. Benedict''s vows of conversion, obedience, and stability about how to live as the people of God in the world. In storytelling and serious engagement with Scripture, old wisdom breathes life into a new monasticism. But, like all monastic wisdom, these reflections are not just for monks. They speak directly to the challenge of being the church in America today and the good news Christ offers for the whole world.Conversations between contemporary Christian communities and Benedictine monasticism are among the most surprising and promising in the church today. Given that the roots of monasticism and of contemporary Protestantism lie in different parts of the Christian tradition, mutual engagement between contemporary Christians and monastics has been rare. Recently, however, the scene has shifted, and Inhabiting the Church represents the new eagerness to learn the art of living together faithfully from experienced and ancient practitioners.--Christine D. Pohl from the foreword""Protestants looking for a richer, thicker, more robust and enchanted way of living into the Christian story should not ignore this invitation into the rhythms and cadences of Benedictine spirituality. Indeed, only one kind of person should avoid this book: the reader who does not wish to be changed.""--Lauren F. Winner author of Girl Meets God and Real Sex ""This book is a timely intersection of the new and ancient, breathing fresh life into an aging body. An older generation will find this book a long-awaited reassurance that the Spirit is still stirring radical nonconformity on the margins of empires. And the contemporary renewal of new monastics and prophetic tricksters will find a cure for the pretension and sloppiness that can so often taint our vision or tempt us to pretend that there is ''something new under the sun.'' With both courage and humility, we will all find ourselves invited to inhabit the incarnational body that makes God visible to the world . . . May it inspire all of us to become the church that God longs for."" --Shane Claiborne author of The Irresistible Revolution, founding member of The Simple Way, and recovering sinner""These folks are bringing things both old and new out of the great Christianstorehouse! The New Monasticism is discovering what is alwaysrediscovered--and always bears great life for the Gospel.""--Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M.Center for Action and ContemplationAlbuquerque, New MexicoJon Stock is a member of Church of the Servant King, publisher of Wipf and Stock, and proprietor of Windows Booksellers in Eugene, Oregon.Tim Otto serves as an Associate Pastor of the Church of the Sojourners in San Francisco. He is also a part-time nurse at the San Francisco county hospital, working with AIDS and cancer patients.Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a member of Rutba House in Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of To Baghdad and Beyond.

This book initiates a new conversation about how theological education might be re-envisioned for the twenty-first century church. The prevailing curricular structure in today''s seminaries and divinity schools was fashioned in a very different era, one that assumed the continued cultural dominance of Christianity and the continued academic dominance of the canons of Enlightenment reason. Neither assumption is viable in today''s post-Christian world; hence, our new circumstances demand a new vision for theological education.The authors of this volume offer an important resource for this project through their creative appropriation of the classical rhetorical tradition, particularly as it has been rehabilitated in the contemporary context. Like St. Augustine, they believe that the chief goals of Christian theology are similar to those of classical rhetoric: ""to teach, to delight, and to move."" And the authors are united in their conviction that these must also be the goals of theological education in a post-Christian era.This volume arises out of a passionate commitment to the cause of theological education. The authors hail from a wide range of denominational traditions and have taught in numerous seminaries and divinity schools. They have also studied the classical and postmodern rhetorical traditions in both theory and practice. They met as a group on numerous occasions to read one another''s contributions to the volume and to offer guidance for the process of rewriting. As a result, this book is much more than a mere collection of essays; it is a jointly-authored work, and one which presents an integrated vision for the future of theological education.""Questioned by the larger church, marginalized within the Academy, divided internally about its mission, mainline theological education is not well, and most of us in the enterprise know it. In the last twenty years we''ve seen trenchant, insightful diagnoses, but unfortunately few engaging, feasible remedies. This volume may be an exception. While no sure cure is offered, these essays point in a healthy direction opened up by a rhetorical approach to the tasks and topics of theological education. Ranging from the modest but compelling to the comprehensive but controversial, these essays challenge faculty to rethink the enterprise in ways suited to the 21st century. Timely and telling.""Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Harvard Divinity School""''To Teach, to Delight, and to Move'' brilliantly accomplishes the imperatives of its title as it makes bold proposals for reconceiving theological education according to the insights of ancient and contemporary rhetoric. The rich dialogue of its authors over several years has yielded a surprisingly persuasive book. It will be among the handful of books whose reading is required for all those with a passion for better teaching and learning in theological education. It is, however, by no means simply for teachers and administrators of theological schools. All rhetors, pastors and lay persons alike, with responsibility for the gospel''s persuasion in the public, postmodern world will readily join this promising symposium."" M. Douglas Meeks, Cal Turner Chancellor Professor of Theology and Wesleyan Studies, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt UniversityDavid S. Cunningham is Professor of Religion and Director of the CrossRoads Project at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He holds degrees in Communication Studies from Northwestern University, and in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge (England) and Duke University. He has published widely in the areas of Christian theology and ethics, including ''Faithful Persuasion: In Aid of a Rhetoric of Christian Theology'' (Notre Dame, 1992) and ''These Three Are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology'' (Blackwell, 1998). His most recent book, ''Reading is Believing: The Christian Faith Through Literature and Film'' (Brazos, 2002) explores the cen

John Wesley (1703-91) was a unique character in history who left a disproportionately large imprint on the world. That imprint was a contagious passion for what he called real Christianity--the Good News of saving grace and scriptural holiness. This book examines Wesley''s life and faith in order to better understand what it means to be a present-day participant in that legacy. The book begins with the story of Wesley''s search for an authentic Christian experience. His steps are traced from his early days of struggle, through his conversion at Aldersgate, to his long years of remarkable ministry. The second part of the book outlines the basic Wesleyan understandings of sin, grace, redemption, new birth, sanctification, and perfection. A concluding exploration of some practical implications of the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness is found in the third part. This book celebrates the Wesleyan tradition, especially that branch known as the Holiness Movement. It is, however, not entirely uncritical. It seeks to provide an honest and sympathetic consideration of the heritage and faith of Wesley''s lasting imprint.""Dan Burnett''s new book In the Shadow of Aldersgate has captured the person of John Wesley and the theological movement that followed him with clarity and freshness. . . . This doctrinal overview refers to other spiritual traditions with respect and grace but assists the reader to understand Wesleyanism in respect to other faith perspectives. [It] is a gift to those who want to understand historic Wesleyan doctrine."" --Dr. Don BrayGeneral Director, Global Partners, The Wesleyan Church""For anyone interested in a concise biography of John Wesley, and an excellent summary of his doctrine of salvation, one could not go wrong in choosing In the Shadow of Aldersgate. I certainly intend to use it as a text in my course ''The Life and Theology of John Wesley.''""Mark L. Weeter, Professor, Division of Religion and PhilosophyOklahoma Wesleyan University""In the Shadow of Aldersgate . . . moves from John Wesley''s life to the thought and potential of the tradition that flows from that life. . . . Besides aiding the Wesleyan tradition in understanding its inaugural springs of authentic Christianity, this book will be an introductory source to those in the wider Christian community . . . . The evangelical spirit of the writer is evident throughout, but this posture does not diminish the book''s use for an ecumenical audience."" Richard K. EckleyProfessor of TheologyHoughton CollegeDaniel L. Burnett has worked in various capacities of ministry and theological education in both the USA and England. A graduate of Nazarene Theological Seminary (M.Div., D.Min.), he now serves as pastor of Central Wesleyan Church in Anderson, Indiana.

CONTENTSPART 1: METHODS, MODELS, AND COMPARATIVE STUDIESWhat Does Sociology Have to Do with The Bible?The Bible and Economic EthicsSocial Class as an Analytic and Hermeneutical Category in Biblical StudiesSocial Class and Ideology in Isaiah 40-55: An Eagletonian ReadingIdeology and Ideologies in Israelite ProphecyPeriodization, Interactive Power Networks, and Teleogical Constraints in Hebrew Bible StudiesIcelandic and Israelite Beginnings: A Comparative ProbeStructure and Origin of the Early Israelite and Iroquois ""Confederacies""PART 2: TRIBUTES TO COLLEAGUESJames Muilenburg: Superlative TeacherDavid Jobling: Fearless Frontiersman Marvin L. Chaney, Master Social CriticJack Elliott: Breacher of Boundaries

This book aims to provide advanced students of biblical studies, seminarians, and academicians with a variety of intertextual strategies to New Testament interpretation. Each chapter is written by a New Testament scholar who provides an established or avant-garde strategy in which:1) The authors in their respective chapters start with an explanation of the particular intertextual approach they use. Important terms and concepts relevant to the approach are defined, and scholarly proponents or precursors are discussed.2) The authors use their respective intertextual strategy on a sample text or texts from the New Testament, whether from the Gospels, Acts, Pauline epistles, Disputed Pauline epistles, General epistles, or Revelation.3) The authors show how their approach enlightens or otherwise brings the text into sharper relief.4) They end with recommended readings for further study on the respective intertextual approach.This book is unique in providing a variety of strategies related to biblical interpretation through the lens of intertextuality.

The liturgical season of Lent and Good Friday are very important for Christians as they meditate and reflect upon the dying of Jesus. These are traditions that take us back to the very beginnings of the Christian tradition. From early times, pilgrims have made their way to the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem, to walk where Jesus walked and to remember his death on the cross. Not everyone can go to Jerusalem, and we cannot stand at the foot of the cross of Jesus, but the Stations of the Cross and the Seven Last Words may take us to Jerusalem and to Calvary imaginatively.

Philosophy is the quest for a life that is fully alive. Drawing on the insights of philosophers through the ages, The Way of Philosophy clarifies what it means to live life intensely. It exposes the shallowness of conventional wisdom by asking such questions as- Can science know everything?- Should we do it if it feels good?- Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?- Is life about creating ourselves?- Is love supposed to be selfless?- Can we ignore death?- If God exists, why is he hiding?Philosophers invite us to go down deep and live a life in light of truth, goodness, and beauty. If we tread this path, we can discover for ourselves the hidden source of the philosophical life in the unending wellspring of wonder.""This work is a call to wonder! Professor Engelland has reflected deeply on the questions that move the human heart--love, beauty, goodness, truth. These pages thus serve as a form of spiritual exercise for thinkers, aiming to arouse us from our various levels of psychic torpor and to bring us to see the marvels of existence at all levels.""--David Meconi, Professor of Theology, Saint Louis University; Editor, Homiletic and Pastoral Review ""This is a beautiful little introduction to philosophy, which, with its humor, provocative observations, and clever anecdotes and examples, will draw students in before they know what's happening. Engelland does a marvelous job of speaking plainly and directly to students without diluting philosophical content, and of opening up classical themes in a fresh and unpretentious way.""--D. C. Schindler, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Metaphysics, John Paul II Institute; author of The Perfection of Freedom and The Critique of Impure ReasonChad Engelland is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. He is the author of Ostension (2014).