What does it mean to live by faith? Answers are more elusive than ever. Beginning with a rich discussion of the Reformation legacy, historian-theologian B.A. Gerrish responds that if we release our thinking from sectarian, partisan lenses, we find that faith denotes a multitude of impulsestrust, doubt, fidelity, and confidenceand is a fundamental ......
Clergy, students of pastoral care, and lay visitation volunteers will find Nancy Gorsuch an effective guide in developing an intentional, proactive program of pastoral visitation in the local church. To increase the pastoral visitor's positive experiences of effectiveness, the author presents basic "how to" information in a straightforward manner ......
How can Christians think responsibly about ethical matters, and in what way can they make moral claims in a largely non-Christian society? How can people engaged in serious moral disagreement be brought into constructive conversation?James Burtness addresses these questions in five steps. He first describes the connections and disjunctions between ......
In this theological resource for spiritual transformation and social change, Carter Heyward rethinks the figure and import of Jesus for church, academy, and society. Rather than focus on the endlessly variable pictures of Jesus in contemporary biblical scholarship, and in radical opposition to the Jesus of the "Christian Right," Heyward ......
Deeply challenging the theological status quo, this important work searches for a new theological and ministerial paradigm in our time of massive social, economic, and geopolitical change. Guided by liberation theology and even more by his remarkable experience with South African indigenous groups and popular religion, Cochrane believes that ......
Just James provides a fascinating treatment of Jesus' brother based on all the ancient sources: New Testament, early church fathers, Nag Hammadi codices, and other early Christian writings. Painter evaluates the importance of this towering figure of the early church whose contributions have been obscured from the consciousness of modern ......
The major world religions once seemed far away, but now are in our neighborhoods. How can Christians understand them? How can we respond in a way that is faithful to Christianity while being respectful of the other religions?Martinson writes from his experience as a missionary and as a teacher of world religions. He approaches world religions as ......
These exciting studies on the first five books of the Bible cover a wide range of topics, challenging the reader to confront the issues of faithfulness, responsibility, and justice in an ever-changing world. Brueggemann sets the issues of praise and lament, grace and duty, truth and power in new frames of reference that call for a response. He ......
The third volume of Brecht's magnificent biography describes the final fourteen years of Luther's life, beginning with the accession of Elector John Frederick in 1532. The period is often treated briefly because some Reformation developments continued without him, his Catholic opponents paid only partial attention to him, his personality displayed ......