Books published by Wipf & Stock Publishers

Catherine Booth's achievements--as a revivalist, social reformer, champion of women's rights, and, with her husband William Booth, co-founder of The Salvation Army--were widely recognized in her lifetime. However, Catherine Booth's life and work has since been largely neglected. This neglect has extended to her theological ideas, even though they were critical to the formation of Salvationism, the spirituality of the movement she cofounded. This book examines the implicit theology that undergirds Catherine Booth's Salvationist spirituality and reveals the ethical concerns at the heart of her soteriology and the integral relationship between the social and evangelical aspects of Christian mission in her thought. Catherine Booth emerges as a significant figure from the Victorian era, a British theologian and church leader with a rare if not unique intellectual and theological perspective: that of a woman.

In 1938 the Reverend Henry H. Riggs wrote ""Shall We Try Unbeaten Paths in Working for Moslems?"" He encouraged the church to help Muslim converts remain inside Islam so that they might not lose their cultural identity. These ideas were soundly denounced by leading missionary scholars of the time: Samuel Zwemer, J. Christy Wilson, and Hendrik Kraemer. In the 1980s Riggs's suggestions bubbled up to the surface with new life in Bangladesh, but the proponents of these views--known as the insider movements (IM)--maintained a low profile. The church did not know what was taking place in Bangladesh until the 1990s when anonymous authors published papers with made-up locations reporting hundreds of thousands of new believers.Today, proponents of IM support their observations of what God is doing among Muslims with eight biblical passages. If the biblical support is real, it behooves you to support missionaries who advocate for IM; but if the biblical evidence is absent, you will have a difficult decision to make. The purpose of this book is help clarify the insider movements' claims and paradigm by simply examining the Scriptures.

As the Bible indicates, our lives are a construction zone, for our bodies are temples of the divine Spirit. Formed initially in the image of God, human beings lost intimacy with God through corruption, rebellion, or neglect. In response, the divine Creator loves us back into relationship, providing means of grace to help restore us to wholeness, beginning with our body and continuing through our mind, soul, and spirit. As buildings need cleaning, maintenance, and ongoing care, so our inner temple needs spiritual stimulus, cleaning, and care.Rebuilding the Temple is the fourth book in Vande Kappelle's series on spirituality and the arts. Books in this series reinforce the essential principle underlying all authentic spirituality: ""Go deep in any one place and you will meet the infinite aliveness that is God, for God is everywhere!"" Whereas earlier books consider the connection of spirituality with creative arts such as poetry, film, music, theater, drama, dance, and modern literature, this volume takes readers on a journey through classic Christian literature, beginning with the Bible and continuing through inspirational works written by diverse spiritual mentors such as Augustine, Dante, Luther, Calvin, Teresa of Avila, George Fox, Blaise Pascal, Henri Nouwen, A. W. Tozer, John McLaren, John Shelby Spong, Richard Rohr, and Marcus Borg.Reading their works reminds us that Christian literature is most practical and inspirational when it takes a narrative approach to theology, interpreting the spiritual journey through the ongoing stories of people and communities rather than trying to capture timeless truths analytically or through rational argumentation. Like its companion texts, Wading on Water, Deep Splendor, and Deeper Splendor, this volume is useful for individual or group study. Each chapter concludes with questions suitable for discussion or reflection.

""What the Kingdom of God requires is a radical Christian movement in our own time which has a vigor and depth that equals that of those radicals who have gone before us."" These words introduce a Radical Reformation Reader, first published in 1971 by a group confident that the past could--and did--offer practical, theological guidance for following Jesus in the contemporary world. What forms of church are appropriate to the ecclesial heirs of such a radical tradition, especially in settings marked by individualism, escalating violence, and growing economic disparity? The essays republished here explore divergent contextual responses and invite readers to do the same.

Winds of Santa Ana is a spiritual history, environmental study, and sailing memoir of Southern California's coast, islands, and waters."This amazing personal account fuses a maritime perspective with considerable historical knowledge of the region from the Spanish period to the present. Kennedy presents his subject in an innovative spiritual light that changed my view of what it meant to grow up in the fertile religious environment of Southern California."--Jarrell C. Jackman, retired CEO, Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation

Do you believe in God?So many people answer this question in the negative because the God they have been taught to believe in is simply not all that believable.In the twenty-first century, a Deity who intervenes in history, supernaturally responds to prayers, favors and protects his faithful and chosen, and executes righteous judgment engenders doubt and disbelief in thinking people of all faiths, as well as those of no practicing faith.A God We Can Believe In is a response to this moment. Herein you will find contributions from leading rabbis and scholars that articulate paths to heart, mind, and soul with God-teachings that are spiritually compelling and intellectually sound. Our authors present God in ways that are consistent with the facts that higher learning has established, the principles of reason, and our shared life experiences.In these pages you will find a God that cannot be brushed aside by educated moderns; a God that does not violate the realities of logic or natural law; a God presented in accessible language; a God that can be lived with and lived for. It is a book for thoughtful individuals everywhere.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is considered to be one of the most important Catholic American authors of the twentieth century. In this book one can discover Merton not only as a contemplative writer and prophet, but also as a pastoral practitioner.Dominiek Lootens is a Catholic practical theologian with more than twenty years of experience as a pastoral supervisor and educator in Belgium and Germany. Using his own professional practice as a starting point, he reflects in this book on the life and work of Thomas Merton. He shows how relevant Merton can be for pastoral practitioners who are active in today's global context. A variety of professional topics are discussed: interfaith hospital chaplaincy, migration and practical theology, pastoral supervision and spirituality, natural contemplation and Orthodox pastoral theology, racism and adult education, and the training of chaplains as social justice allies. This book offers practical theologians and pastoral practitioners an in-depth view in the life and publications of Thomas Merton and invites them to bring it into dialogue with their own professional practice.

This one volume condensation of the author's multi-volume Dogmatic Theology series remains a hallmark of Anglican systematic theology. Here, Hall's work is presented with helpful clarity and order. Hall's theological program was designed to constitute a connected treatment of the entire range of Catholic Doctrine as it is maintained in the Episcopal Church and the Reformed Catholic Tradition of the Anglican Communion.