Books published by Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.

The church in our post-Christendom era needs different models for conceptualizing its own identity and its relationship to the rest of society. Philip Kenneson sets forth a model that suggests that the church''s role in contemporary society is to serve as a "contrast-society." In this model, the church is animated by a different spirit than that which animates "the world." Moreover, the "contrast-society" model has tremendous missional promise in that its embodied life in the world is its witness to the world.Kenneson acknowledges that this model is sometimes rejected by both Christians and non-Christians because it appears to be too "sectarian." He therefore asks, What are we claiming about a particular group when we call it sectarian? He argues that critics who regard a "contrast-society" church as sectarian often operate with untenable understandings of rationality, culture, politics, religion, and critique.In a concluding chapter, Kenneson offers reflections on how moving "beyond sectarianism" allows us to see afresh some of the missional promise of the church-as-contrast-society model.Philip D. Kenneson is Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Milligan College and author of Selling Out the Church: The Dangers of Church Marketing.

Jane Collier and Raphael Esteban present a thoughtful and disturbing critique of Western culture. They see the West as obsessed by the "culture of economism"--a pervasive and often oppressive culture in which economic causes or factors become the main source of cultural meanings and values. Such economism, they point out, perpetrates inequality, injustice, divisions among people (especially rich and poor), and a host of other evils throughout the world.The culture of economism touches all of us and is, in fact, manifest also in the organizational culture of the church. In many respects, the church has allied itself with the culture of economism (complicity), participating in a shared history of conquest and oppression. But recent paradigm shifts at the organizational level in both the church (spawned by awareness that the Spirit works in all places and in all cultures) and economism (spawned by the awareness of the basic failure of economism and its institutions to produce human happiness and of its power to demolish so much that is good in the world) present a window of opportunity for mission.Collier and Esteban believe that mission within and to the "culture of economism" needs to be a mission of encounter in which each challenges the other to conversion. Such conversion does not necessarily imply the abandonment of power, but the abandonment of its misuses and the commitment to the pursuit of the good. At that point there is "no longer master and slave, Gentile and Jew, male and female, but all are one in Christ Jesus."Jane Collier is an economist and theologian who lectures in Management Studies at the University of Cambridge. Raphael Esteban, M.Afr., is a theologian and missiologist who lectures at the Missionary Institute, London, on the social and economic context of mission.

This book''s title, "the stones that the builders rejected" (Psalm 118:22), refers to "history''s black absent ones" who may indeed have much more to say about the nature of moral discourse and redemption of America''s soul than has previously been acknowledged.In the book, six outstanding black scholars, women and men, build on the hypothesis that, because of its distinctive socio-cultural location and long history of producing quality leadership despite inadequate material and social resources, the black church tradition is a prime candidate for offering direction for the development of leaders for today''s national and global communities. Contributors include: Peter Paris, Princeton Theological Seminary; Marcia Y. Riggs, Columbia Theological Seminary; Clarice J. Martin, Colgate Rochester Divinity School; Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Colby College; Carolyn C. Denard, Georgia State University; and Michael Eric Dyson, Columbia University.While the authors offer distinct methodological approaches for understanding ethical leadership, all express the need to return to some of the powerful resources of the past as a way of rethinking appropriate forms and styles of leadership in the lives of African Americans and the nation at large.The editor, Walter E. Fluker, is Project Director of the National Resource Center for the Development of Ethical Leadership from the Black Church Tradition at Colgate Rochester Divinity School.

The Book of Revelation is one of the most difficult of biblical books to understand, depicting the clash of cosmic powers, the interplay of bizarre images, and the specific problems of particular churches in the Roman province of Asia. Despite its opacity, Revelation has enjoyed great influence down through the ages, an influence felt in art, literature, and theology. The relative ease with which its images can be adapted to varied situations, however, has produced problematic interpretations that are far from what the author intended.Many misinterpretations of Revelation result from lack of appreciation of its original contexts: historical, social, literary, theological. To address this problem and to enable today''s readers to understand how the book would have been read by early Christians, this commentary makes available the best in recent and classic biblical scholarship on Revelation and its setting. The result is that the reader will see Revelation in its original contexts and thereby fully comprehend it as one possible Christian response to specific conditions in the eastern Roman Empire in the first century."Murphy''s commentary is insightful and a pleasure to read. It is an excellent introduction to a fascinating and complex biblical book. I recommend it highly for students, pastors, and lay people." -- Adela Yarbro Collins, University of ChicagoFrederick J. Murphy is professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, and the author of The Religious World of Jesus and Pseudo-Philo: Rewriting the Bible.

Archaeology seems to have become an active partner in the attempt to prove the historical truth of the Bible. Biblical archaeologists have gone to the field in search of Noah''s ark or the walls of Jericho, as if the finding of these artifacts would make the events of scripture somehow more true or real.Thomas Thompson is one of the most vocal contemporary critics of biblical archaeology. His simple but powerful thesis is that archaeology cannot be used in the service of the Bible. Focusing on the patriarchal narratives-the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-he demonstrates that archaeological research simply cannot historically substantiate these stories. Going further, Thompson says that archaeological materials should never be dated or evaluated on the basis of written texts. Looking to the patriarchal narratives in Genesis, he concludes that these stories are neither historical nor were they intended to be historical. Instead, these narratives are written as expressions of Israel''s relationship to God. Thomas L. Thompson is Professor of Old Testament, University of Copenhagen. His books include The Mythic Past and The Early History of the Israelite People.

This collection of articles offers cutting edge scholarship on Paul's mission and letters in his political cultural context.