Singing the Ethos of God

Singing the Ethos of God PDF Author: Brian Brock
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802803792
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Book Description
Noting that academic biblical scholars and Christian ethicists have been methodologically estranged for some decades now, Brian Brock seeks to reframe the whole Bible-and-ethics discussion in terms of this question: What role does the Bible play in God's generation of a holy people -- and how do we participate in that regeneration? Brock first examines various major contemporary thinkers on the Bible and Christian ethics, including John Howard Yoder, Brevard Childs, John Webster, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He then undertakes major discussions of Augustine and Martin Luther, unpacking their interpretation of the Psalms. Finally, Brock articulates the processes of renewal in God's people. His close study of a few individual psalms shows how we enter the world of praise in which all human life is comprehended within God's work -- and is thus renewed. Immersion in the exegetical tradition of the Christian faith, Brock argues, must be the heart and soul of theology and ethics.

The Theology of Craft and the Craft of Work

The Theology of Craft and the Craft of Work PDF Author: Jeremy Kidwell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317014324
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Book Description
An important reconceptualisation is taking place in the way people express creativity, work together, and engage in labour; particularly, suggests Kidwell, a surprising resurgence in recent years of manual and craft work. Noting the wide array of outlets that now market hand-made goods and the array of popular books which advocate ‘making’ as a basis for activism or personal improvement, this book seeks to understand how the micro-politics of craft work might offer insights for a broader theology of work. Why does it matter that we do work which is meaningful, excellent, and beautiful? Through a close reading of Christian scripture, The Theology of Craft and the Craft of Work examines the theology and ethics of work in light of original biblical exegesis. Kidwell presents a detailed exegetical study of temple construction accounts in the Hebrew bible and the New Testament. Illuminating a theological account of craft, and employing the ancient vision of ‘good work’ which is preserved in these biblical texts, Kidwell critically interrogates modern forms of industrial manufacture. This includes a variety of contemporary work problems particularly the instrumentalisation and exploitation of the non-human material world and the dehumanisation of workers. Primary themes taken up in the book include agency, aesthetics, sociality, skill, and the material culture of work, culminating with the conclusion that the church (or ‘new temple’) is both the product and the site of moral work. Arguing that Christian worship provides a moral context for work, this book also examines early Christian practices to suggest a theological reconceptualisation of work.

Singing the Songs of the Lord in Foreign Lands

Singing the Songs of the Lord in Foreign Lands PDF Author: Kenneth Mtata
Publisher: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt
ISBN: 3374038654
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
Martin Luther once said, 'Many of the Fathers have loved and praised the Book of Psalms above all other books of the Bible. No books of moral tales and no legends of saints which have been written, or ever will be, are to my mind as noble as the Book of Psalms ...' Despite their richness, the Psalms also raise some interpretive challenges. How do we read such difficult passages as the one which advocates the violent destruction of one's enemies? Are we to ignore these and embrace only those that edify us? This collection of essays by renowned international scholars addresses such issues as the history and contemporary Lutheran and ecumenical interpretations of Psalms and provides valuable interpretive insights for theologians, biblical scholars, pastors, counselors and students. With contributions by Lubomir Batka, Andrea Bieler, Brian Brock, Hans-Peter Großhans, Elelwani B. Farisani, Jutta Hausmann, Anni Hentschel, Frank-Lothar Hossfeld, Craig R. Koester, Madipoane Masenya, Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr, Urmas Nommik, Roger Wanke and Vitor Westhelle.

Captive to Christ, Open to the World

Captive to Christ, Open to the World PDF Author: Brian Brock
Publisher: Lutterworth Press
ISBN: 0718843428
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
In this wide-ranging and engaging collection of interviews, Brian Brock discusses how Christian faith makes a difference for life in the modern world. Beginning with a discussion of teaching Christian ethics in the contemporary academy, Brock takes up environmental questions, political and medical ethics, the modern city and Christian responsibility to it, energy use, the information age, agriculture, political consensus and coercion, and many other issues. The reader is thus offered a broad and incisivediscussion of many contemporary topics in a brief, illuminating, but never superfcial manner. The book's unusual conversational style allows strikingly clear, creative, and concrete theological connections to emerge in the spaces between moral questions rarely thought of as linked. As the title suggests, the running theme of the interviews is being bound to Christ and placed into the contemporary world. Brock's theological readings of contemporary cultural trends are vigorous, unapologetic, and insightful, and they offer delightful surprises as well as fertile new ways through the sterile impasses of many issues currently being debated in the public square. This book provides an excellent starting point for those interested in fresh theological insights into contemporary ethical questions and an accessible introduction to Brock's previous works.

Old Testament Theology

Old Testament Theology PDF Author: John Goldingay
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830879234
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 917

Book Description
In this third volume of his critically acclaimed Old Testament Theology John Goldingay explores the Old Testament vision of Israel's life before God. The first volume focused on the story of God's dealings with Israel, or Israel's gospel. The second volume investigated the beliefs of Israel, or Israel's faith. Now the spotlight falls on the Old Testament's perspective on the life that Israel should live in its present and future, including its worship, prayer and spirituality, as well as its practices, attitudes and ethics before God. Goldingay sees three spheres of life giving order to Israel's vision: its life in relation to God, its life in community and the life of the individual as a self. Within these frameworks he unfurls a tapestry that is as broad and colorful as all of life, and yet detailed in its intricate attention to the text. With this final volume John Goldingay has given us the third pillar of an Old Testament theology that is monumental in scope and yet invites us to enter through multiple doors to explore its riches. Students will profit from a semester in its courts, and ministers of the Word will find their preaching and teaching deeply enriched by wandering its halls and meditating in its chambers.

Luther and the Stories of God

Luther and the Stories of God PDF Author: Robert Kolb
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1441236244
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
Martin Luther read and preached the biblical text as the record of God addressing real, flesh-and-blood people and their daily lives. He used stories to drive home his vision of the Christian life, a life that includes struggling against temptation, enduring suffering, praising God in worship and prayer, and serving one's neighbor in response to God's callings and commands. Leading Lutheran scholar Robert Kolb highlights Luther's use of storytelling in his preaching and teaching to show how Scripture undergirded Luther's approach to spiritual formation. With both depth and clarity, Kolb explores how Luther retold and expanded on biblical narratives in order to cultivate the daily life of faith in Christ.

Scripture, Tradition, and Reason in Christian Ethics

Scripture, Tradition, and Reason in Christian Ethics PDF Author: Bharat Ranganathan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030251934
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
How should we understand the relationship between Christian ethics and religious ethics? Among comparative, ethnographic, and normative methodologies? Between confessional and non-confessional orientations, or between theology and philosophy? This volume brings together emerging religious ethicists to engage the normative dimensions of Christian ethics. Focusing on scripture, tradition, and reason, the contributors to this volume argue for a vision of Christian ethics as religious ethics. Toward this end, they engage with scripture, interpretation, and religious practice; examine the putative divide between reason and tradition, autonomy and heteronomy; and offer proposals about the normative characterization of conceptual and practical issues in contemporary religious ethics. Collectively, the volume engages Christian thought to make an argument for the continuing relevance of normative methodologies in contemporary religious and theological ethics.

Reforming a Theology of Gender

Reforming a Theology of Gender PDF Author: Daniel R. Patterson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666731498
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
Judith Butler and conservative Christian theology are often perceived to be antithetical on questions of gender. In Reforming a Theology of Gender they are shown to be strange bedfellows. By engaging in dialogue with Butler on her terms—desire, violence, and life—this book absorbs the heart of Butler’s critique, revealing a righteous law and a seductive image in conservative theologies of gender. The law of Adam and Eve manifests in the unjust administration of guilt, grief, and death. By confronting this law, which in fact condemns all in their bodies, further reflection on Butler’s thought leads to thinking about where one finds life in one’s body of death. The seductive image of Adam and Eve is revealed to be a false hope and a site that induces slave morality or body-works-based righteousness. Butler’s voice is strangely prophetic because it calls the church to offer hope and life by reorienting its gaze from the beautiful yet lifeless bodies of Adam and Eve to the bloodied and scarred, risen body of Jesus Christ. Gender, in the end, is shown to be a vocation of becoming what one is not.

Sola Scriptura

Sola Scriptura PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004356436
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
Sola Scriptura offers a multi-disciplinary reflection on the theme of the priority and importance of Scripture in theology, from historical, biblical-theological and systematic-theological perspectives, aiming at the interaction between exegesis and dogmatics. Brian Brock and Kevin J. Vanhoozer offer concluding reflections on the theme, bringing the various contributions together.

Confronting Technology

Confronting Technology PDF Author: Matthew T. Prior
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532671474
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Book Description
We are living through a digital revolution which already touches every area of life and will continue to shape the future in as yet unforeseen ways. Digital technologies are an ordinary part of daily life, and yet they also present an unprecedented challenge to Christians to articulate a biblical, theological framework to navigate times of rapid change. The work of the French theologian Jacques Ellul is a theological time-bomb primed for times like these. Accounts of Ellul's career often divide off his sociology and theology, but this book argues that Ellul conceived a single project of bringing technology into confrontation with the Word of God, tackling the phenomenon he named technique, the pursuit of maximal power and efficiency implicit in the technological enterprise, with a profound depth of biblical and ethical insight. Centering himself on the apocalypse or revelation of Jesus Christ in history, Ellul offers a monumental, timely (though far from flawless) contribution to contemporary ethical debates about the uses and abuses of technologies. His work blazes a trail that Christians and all concerned for the future would do well to follow, as we avoid both the naivety of "technological neutrality" and the dread of "technological determinism."