Books published by Cascade Books

No question is more central to Christian living, preaching, and theology than Jesus'' question to his disciples: Who do you say that I am? Some would have it that pastors and theologians, biblical exegetes and historians, dogmatic and moral theologians, Catholic and Evangelical have more differences than similarities in the way Christians with such diverse vocations respond to Jesus'' question. And there is little doubt that there sometimes seem to be unbridgeable gulfs between the way historians and believers, Internet gossipers and preachers, classical christological debates and present-day praying and pastoral care implicitly or explicitly address the Lord''s question. But the authors here address these and other issues in ways that are remarkably convergent, as if a "Catholic and Evangelical theology" for proclaiming and following Jesus today has emerged, or is indeed emerging."This book circles around Jesus''s perennial question: ''who do you say that I am?'' It is a question we can never be done with, because it confronts us ever anew, continually calling us to account. Here is a book with an all-star lineup of Christian scholars, led by Carl Braaten, that will edify all those who know they are summoned to answer faithfully, not only with their lips but also with their lives."--George Hunsinger, Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary"''Who do you say that I am?'' If we believe the one who spoke these words is dead, we can bury him and be done with it. If we confess him to be alive, it makes our own lives more complicated--but also interesting. Happily, the contributors to this volume are willing to reckon with such complication. They offer theologically creative, unsentimental reflections on who Jesus Christ is and what he asks of us."--Joseph Mangina, Professor of Theology, Wycliffe CollegeMichael Root is Professor of Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America and Executive Director of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. He was formerly the Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France.James J. Buckley is Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland. He is a member of the North American Lutheran Catholic dialogue and an associate director of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. He contributed to and edited The Blackwell Companion to Catholicism (2008).

Description:Could we have imagined how much theological education would change in the new millennium? Shifting needs of students, classrooms, and churches have demanded constant revisions of the curriculum, course design, classroom technology, and pedagogical strategies.Saint Paul School of Theology felt the tide of change within our own walls and designed a project called ""Proleptic Pedagogy"" to address three distinct pedagogical challenges for the future of theological education. First, instead of fitting new technologies into old pedagogies, how are teaching and learning transformed by shifting needs of students who are ""digital natives,"" ""digital immigrants,"" or distance learners? Second, instead of reactive strategies, what pedagogy proactively eliminates ""accommodations"" because courses are designed with flexibility and openness to diverse learning styles, disabilities, and needs? Third, instead of engaging student diversity with the tools of the 1960s, what new teaching and learning strategies anticipate future student racial and ethnic demographics and interracial educational experiences?This volume of essays narrates our classroom stories, teases out pedagogical issues, examines pedagogical literature, reflects on theology of pedagogy, and constructs pedagogical proposals--with an open invitation for other theological educators to join our conversation about the future of theological education.

About the Contributor(s):Ronald J. Allen is Professor of Preaching and Gospels and Letters at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. His books include Reading the New Testament for the First Time (2012).John S. McClure is Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship at Vanderbilt Divinity School. He has written Mashup Religion (2011) and other books.O. Wesley Allen Jr. is Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary. Among his books are A Renewed Homiletic (editor, 2010) and The Homiletic of All Believers (2005).

"These essays, spanning four decades of Ferguson''s scholarship, sum up major discussions of ministry and canon in early Christianity. Especially useful for exploring the terminology surrounding ordination, these essays are vintage Ferguson."--Elizabeth A. Clark, Duke University, Durham, NCFor Volume 2:"This volume is another great contribution by Everett Ferguson toward a better understanding of the practices of the early church. Because of his vast and thorough knowledge of the original documents, as well as scholarly studies that contribute to one''s understanding of their context, Ferguson''s essays in this volume are an indispensable contribution to this field of study. Ferguson''s style of weaving his commentary with original and supporting sources is masterful. I look forward to using this and the first volume in several graduate courses I teach in historical and present-day ecclesiology."--Earl D. Lavender, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TNEverett Ferguson is Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Abilene Christian University. He was editor of The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (2nd edition 1997) and is author of many works including Early Christians Speak (2 volumes 1999, 2002); Backgrounds of Early Christianity (3rd ed., 2003); Inheriting Wisdom: Readings for Today from Ancient Christian Writers (2004); Church History, vol. 1: From Christ to Pre-Reformation (2005); and Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (2009). Ferguson received the "Distinguished Service Award" from the North American Patristics Society (2008) and the "Vestigia Award for Excellence in Early Christian Studies and Service to the Church" from the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies (2020).

As a global religion with growing numbers of expressions, Christianity calls for deepening relationships across traditions while also formulating collaborative visions. A thriving church will require Christians from various traditions and on varying trajectories to become familiar with one another, appreciate one another, and work in common service to God in Jesus Christ.In this book, a group of thirteen distinguished scholars from around the world and representing a range of Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant perspectives demonstrate how theological reflection and broad-based ecumenical conversations may serve the church. Reflecting on numerous salient matters facing the global church, these scholars model what may be accomplished in ecumenical conversations that recognize the gifts that come with unity across diversity among those who seek to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

New Testament studies are witnessing many exciting developments. And Douglas Campbell's groundbreaking publications are an important contribution to future discussions relating to Paul. Familiar problems relating to justification, "old" and "new" perspectives, and much more besides, have been tackled in fresh and exciting ways, setting down challenge after challenge to all those involved in Pauline studies. Campbell's publications therefore demand serious engagement. This book seeks to facilitate academic engagement with Campbell's work in a unique way. It contains numerous chapters critiquing his proposals, while others summarize the key themes succinctly. But it also contains Campbell's own response to the reception of his work, allowing him space to outline how his thinking has developed. In so doing, this work allows readers to be drawn into a vitally important conversation. It is academic theology in the making and constitutes the cutting edge of Pauline studies.

Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the "second death"--an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.

This is a book about Jesus of Nazareth. It is not a book about ""story,"" nor about ""narrative theology."" Hans Frei was not a theologian of story or of narrative in any general way, and this book is neither about the narrative quality of our existence and the gospel's relation to that quality, nor about the narrative shape of the Scriptures as a whole and the call on us to place ourselves within that narrative.Rather, this is a book about the way in which Jesus of Nazareth's identity is rendered by the Gospels--largely the Synoptic Gospels, particularly the Gospel of Luke, and especially in the passion and resurrection sequences--by means of a certain kind of narrative.--from the Foreword by Mike Higton

With the majority of the world's Christians now living in the non-Western world, Christian mission has become a global movement. The mission of Western Christianity now faces the challenge of laying aside the preeminence and privilege it has long enjoyed in global Christian mission, and embracing a new role of servanthood in weakness alongside its sisters and brothers from Asia, South America, and Africa. Such a transformation in historic patterns in mission requires not just new strategies and techniques, but a renewal of its spirituality. How can the spirituality of Western mission be renewed? By learning from those non-Western Christians whose lives on the margins reveal anew the One who emptied himself of the prerogatives of glory on the cross to serve humanity out of utter weakness. Learning from the Least invites you to a journey among Palestinian Christians to meet radical peacemakers who are making courageous decisions to reconcile with those who are customarily reckoned as enemies. Their radical servanthood out of weakness is a prophetic challenge to Western Christians, a call to lay aside the prerogatives of power and wealth, to question triumphal theologies, and to discover again the vulnerability of the way of the cross.

In 1984, Ron Sider challenged that until Christians are ready to risk everything in pursuit of peace, ""we dare never whisper another word about pacifism . . . Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce conflict, we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword."" From this challenge, Christian Peacemaker Teams was born. Nearly thirty years later, Michael McRay too explored Sider's challenge, interning with CPT in the West Bank city of Hebron. Alongside local and international peacemakers, McRay learned how to resist the violence of occupation, sharing in the stories of a suffering people as he struggled to embody the peaceable spirit of the rabbi from Nazareth. This book tells those stories.Drawing on his personal experience with the land and its history, McRay's raw letters home tackle critical issues relevant to peacemakers everywhere: What is really happening in Palestine that mainstream media fails to report? How are Palestinians' lives being affected? How can one be peaceable amidst such violence and oppression? How should Christian discipleship influence one's pursuits of peacemaking and reconciliation? McRay's letters illustrate both the challenge and promise of the cross in today's world.