Being Faithful: Christian Commitment in Modern Society PDF Download

Author: Judith A. Merkle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567611507
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This book explores how the Christian life is lived in a pluralistic situation where different contexts of belonging give rise to different moral challenges. While it is characteristic of modern life to exist in a postmodern situation where there is an erosion of comprehensive systems of meaning, we still live today in contexts of belonging. We still seek to gather out of the fragments of modern life the sustenance of a network of belonging, belief and practice which comprise a faithful life. The construction of such a life, not only for us, but for others, serves as the framework for our moral commitments. Furthermore, sustaining and transforming social frameworks which shape various aspects of human life form the life task of adult Christians.

Author: Marshall Segal
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433555484
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Life Is Never Mainly About Love and Marriage. So Learn to Live and Date for More. Many of you grew up assuming that marriage would meet all of your needs and unlock God's purposes for you. But God has far more planned for you than your future marriage. Not Yet Married is not about waiting quietly in the corner of the world for God to bring you "the one," but about inspiring you to live and date for more now. If you follow Jesus, the search for a spouse is no longer a pursuit of the perfect person, but a pursuit of more of God. He will likely write a love story for you different than the one you would write for yourself, but that's because he loves you and knows how to write a better story. This book was written to help you find real hope, happiness, and purpose in your not-yet-married life.

Author: David Goetsch
Publisher: Fidelis Books
ISBN: 1642933937
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
The most enduring success principles for the workplace have roots in Scripture. In a world that increasingly endorses moral relativism, secular humanism, political correctness, and anti-Christian bias, employers still cry out for personnel who are honest, dependable, selfless, and diligent—personnel who solve problems rather than cause them, prevent conflict rather than incite it, seek responsibility instead of running from it, work to improve the team rather than pursuing their own agendas, prevent stress rather than instigate it, and win the trust and respect of their coworkers in spite of differences in worldviews. Christian Women on the Job provides twelve specific strategies that will help women excel by overcoming the hindrances they face at work. Karen Moore, bestselling author of devotional and prayer books, shares encouraging words and inspiring prayers and thoughts.

Author: Judith A. Merkle SNDdeN
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567658236
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
"Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying of hands by the council of elders" (1Tim. 4:14). Members of the church today can comprehend Paul's sentiment to Timothy. While not all ordained, all baptized Christians have experienced the laying on of hands in baptism. They have been touched by that mysterious mix of charism, initiated into the Body of Christ through the Holy Spirit, as well as launched into life with Christ through the institution of the Church with all its concreteness, ambiguity, sinfulness and goodness. Through the lens of Christian theology, along with the sociology of Max Weber in his study of charism and institution in modern society, Judith A. Merkle analyzes the interaction and tautness between the concept of powerful grace through baptism and the institution in the life of the modern church. Weber asserts that freedom and creativity in modern society only become manifest within social relations. Since these highly valued modern experiences do not exist outside the institutional framework, they exist in tension with the constrictive and creative aspects of the institution. Judith A. Merkle offers the reader perspective on this contemporary experience in the church.

Author: Judith A. Merkle SNDdeN
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567707016
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Drawing on the work of Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, this book examines how secular culture affects both the living of Christian discipleship today and impacts how religious congregations engage in their own renewal and future. It argues that religious communities can do more than improve and fix the out of date conditions they met in the renewal after Vatican II. Calling on environmental, sociological and theological insights, this book asks how the ongoing “coming of the Kingdom” in the Spirit brings new gifts for these times and how congregations might respond beyond restorative or post-Christian solutions to new challenges confronting them. This book offers a renewed meaning of religious life in secular life and the gift it offers and receives from every culture in which it is embedded.

Author: Grace Olmstead
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593084039
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
"A superior exploration of the consequences of the hollowing out of our agricultural heartlands."—Kirkus Reviews In the tradition of Wendell Berry, a young writer wrestles with what we owe the places we’ve left behind. In the tiny farm town of Emmett, Idaho, there are two kinds of people: those who leave and those who stay. Those who leave go in search of greener pastures, better jobs, and college. Those who stay are left to contend with thinning communities, punishing government farm policy, and environmental decay. Grace Olmstead, now a journalist in Washington, DC, is one who left, and in Uprooted, she examines the heartbreaking consequences of uprooting—for Emmett, and for the greater heartland America. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Uprooted wrestles with the questions of what we owe the places we come from and what we are willing to sacrifice for profit and progress. As part of her own quest to decide whether or not to return to her roots, Olmstead revisits the stories of those who, like her great-grandparents and grandparents, made Emmett a strong community and her childhood idyllic. She looks at the stark realities of farming life today, identifying the government policies and big agriculture practices that make it almost impossible for such towns to survive. And she explores the ranks of Emmett’s newcomers and what growth means for the area’s farming tradition. Avoiding both sentimental devotion to the past and blind faith in progress, Olmstead uncovers ways modern life attacks all of our roots, both metaphorical and literal. She brings readers face to face with the damage and brain drain left in the wake of our pursuit of self-improvement, economic opportunity, and so-called growth. Ultimately, she comes to an uneasy conclusion for herself: one can cultivate habits and practices that promote rootedness wherever one may be, but: some things, once lost, cannot be recovered.

Author: Miroslav Volf
Publisher: Brazos Press
ISBN: 1493414941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Celebrated Theologian Offers Wisdom for Civic Engagement Christian citizens have a responsibility to make political and ethical judgments in light of their faith and to participate in the public lives of their communities--from their local neighborhoods to the national scene. But it can be difficult to discern who to vote for, which policies to support, and how to respond to the social and cultural trends of our time. This nonpartisan handbook offers Christians practical guidance for thinking through complicated public issues and faithfully following Jesus as citizens of their countries. The book focuses on enduring Christian commitments that should guide readers in their judgments and encourages legitimate debate among Christians over how to live out core values. The book also includes lists of resources for further reflection in each chapter and "room for debate" questions to consider.

Author: Andrew L. Whitehead
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190057882
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Why do white Protestants in America embrace a president who seems to violate their basic standards of morality? The answer, Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry argue, is "Christian nationalism," the belief that the United States is -- and should be -- a Christian nation. Knowing someone's stance on Christian nationalism, this book shows, tells us more about his or her political beliefs than race, religion, or political party. Drawing on national survey data and interviews with Americans across the political spectrum, Taking America Back for God illustrates the tremendous influence of Christian nationalism on debates about the most contentious issues dominating American public life.

Author: Christena Cleveland
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830864954
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Leadership Journal Book Award Readers' Choice Awards Honorable Mention Despite Jesus' prayer that all Christians "be one," divisions have been epidemic in the body of Christ from the beginning to the present. We cluster in theological groups, gender groups, age groups, ethnic groups, educational and economic groups. We criticize freely those who disagree with us, don't look like us, don't act like us and don't even like what we like. Though we may think we know why this happens, Christena Cleveland says we probably don't. In this eye-opening book, learn the hidden reasons behind conflict and divisions. Learn: Why I think all my friends are unique but those in other groups are all the same Why little differences often become big sources of conflict Why categorizing others is often automatic and helpful but can also have sinister side effects Why we are so often victims of groupthink and how we can avoid it Why women think men are judging them more negatively than men actually are, and vice versa Why choices of language can actually affect unity With a personal touch and the trained eye of a social psychologist, Cleveland brings to bear the latest studies and research on the unseen dynamics at work that tend to separate us from others. Learn why Christians who have a heart for unity have such a hard time actually uniting. The author provides real insight for ministry leaders who have attempted to build bridges across boundaries. Here are the tools we need to understand how we can overcome the hidden forces that divide us.

Author: Mark A. Noll
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467464627
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Winner of the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award (1995) “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” So begins this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement by one of evangelicalism’s most respected historians. Unsparing in his indictment, Mark Noll asks why the largest single group of religious Americans—who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence—have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship. While nourishing believers in the simple truths of the gospel, why have so many evangelicals failed to sustain a serious intellectual life and abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of “high” culture? Over twenty-five years since its original publication, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind has turned out to be prescient and perennially relevant. In a new preface, Noll lays out his ongoing personal frustrations with this situation, and in a new afterword he assesses the state of the scandal—showing how white evangelicals’ embrace of Trumpism, their deepening distrust of science, and their frequent forays into conspiratorial thinking have coexisted with surprisingly robust scholarship from many with strong evangelical connections.