Bücher der Reihe Ray S. Anderson Collection

- What does it mean to be human?- How does a right understanding of personhood affect decisions on critical life situations?- What implications does a biblical perspective on personhood have for the pastoral ministry of healing and hope?In answering these questions, Ray S. Anderson focused on the person as determined by and sustained by the creative power of God. He explored the the implications of a biblical understanding of personhood for such critical issues as human sexuality, family relationships, abortion, and death. He broke new ground in relating pastoral care and counseling to contemporary issues which challenge Christians and their understanding of the meaning of human life.

About the Contributor(s):Ray Anderson (1925-2009) was Senior Professor of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary and served on the faculty of the School of Theology since 1976. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Spiritual Caregiving as Secular Sacrament, The Soul of Ministry, Self-Care, Living the Spiritually Balanced Life, and Dancing with Wolves While Feeding the Sheep: The Musings of a Maverick Theologian.

Description:How do we make sense of death--in theology, in philosophy, in experience? How do religions other than Christianity deal with death and with dying? In the now predominantly secular societies of the West, what are we to make of the theologies of death developed by writers such as Becker, Hick, Thielicke, and Macquarrie?Ray Anderson tackles his subject with clarity and without sentimentality. He discusses first the treatment--and indeed, the denial--of death by contemporary Western society, and its place in other religious traditions. Going on to discuss the origins of a Christian theology of death, he examines the legacy of Judaism and seeks to lay the foundations for a Christian anthropology in the unity of the body and soul. Death, he argues, is alien to God''s determination of our personhood. Outlining a classic Christian understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he explores the implications of the Passion for our own mortality.Even if the sting of death has been removed, the experience of dying and bereavement remains. Ray Anderson considers pastoral approaches to dying in the light of his observations and arguments and makes his case for a reintegration of the experience of dying into our communities.About the Contributor(s):Ray Anderson (1925-2009) was Senior Professor of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary and served on the faculty of the School of Theology since 1976. He iss the author of more than twenty books, including Spiritual Caregiving as Secular Sacrament, The Soul of Ministry, Self-Care, Living the Spiritually Balanced Life, and Dancing with Wolves While Feeding the Sheep: The Musings of a Maverick Theologian.

How does one view Christian counseling as a calling? What is the role and task of the counselor from a theological perspective? How does one strip away the ambiguity that is too often inherent in the words "therapy" and "counseling" in a religious setting?Ray S. Anderson has written this book as a theologian with a keen interest in helping Christian counselors fulfill their task more effectively by enabling them to see that task more clearly. Too often, even counselors who achieve effective results are beset by what Anderson calls "an uneasy conscience"--the realization that for some reason "a little transactional analysis once a week works better than a month of Sundays in curing the souls of troubled parishioners."This book seeks to put that uneasiness and ambiguity to rest by helping counselors see their work as a means of grace, rooted in a model of personhood that is both theologically and psychologically sound for realizing the full potential of each person.Christians Who Counsel has three parts, involving building a foundation for Christian counseling, exploring the spiritual dynamics in counseling, and describing counseling in a distinctly Christian mode. Written without either theological or psychological jargon, this book is for all Christians who counsel, whether pastors, lay counselors, psychotherapists, or family therapists. With clarity of vision comes the power of a renewed commitment.

""The best theory for fighting fires comes from actually engaging in the battle against the flames,"" Ray Anderson writes. ""For the thousands of pastors and church leaders who are on the ''firelines'' of God''s mission in the world, we need a theology that sings, even as it stings, igniting the mind and stirring the heart.""In these pages, then, Anderson passionately sets forth a vision of the church''s work and mission based on its birthday: Pentecost. At Pentecost, Christians were given the Holy Spirit in order to understand the incarnation and come alive to God. So this key event directs and empowers the church in its service to the world.In the light of Pentecost we learn that we can come to know God only in praxis -- truth discovered through action. In the process of elucidating this praxis, Anderson seeks to construct a theology that not only truly respects and aids ministers on the firelines, but will also heal the breach between Pentecostal and mainline church theology.""The guiding vision of this book is a church liberated from deadening bureaucracies and sterile theological structures, a church that fulfills its mission of world reconciliation through the empowerment of Pentecostal presence. Ministry on the Fireline is a vibrant reassessment of the vision and mission of the church.""--Gilbert BilezikianRay Anderson (1925-2009) was Senior Professor of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary and served on the faculty of the School of Theology since 1976. He has published over twenty books, including Spiritual Caregiving as Secular Sacrament, The Soul of Ministry, Self-Care, Living the Spiritually Balanced Life, and Dancing with Wolves while Feeding the Sheep: The Musings of a Maverick Theologian.

Ray Anderson, (1925-2009) was Senior Professor of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary and served on the faculty of the School of Theology since 1976. He has published over twenty books, including, Spiritual Caregiving as Secular Sacrament, The Soul of Ministry, Self Care, Living the Spiritually Balanced Life, and Dancing with Wolves While Feeding the Sheep: The Musings of a Maverick Theologian.

Life is not user-friendly, we all need some instructions along the way. But Self-Care is not just another self-help book. This is a book about the self, first of all, and then how that self, endowed by God with a divine image, can experience self-worth, emotional health, and a strong and vital faith in the face of life's inevitable and irrational pain and suffering. Self-Care goes beyond recovery from abuse and dysfunction. It is the realization of God's gift of personal empowerment and spiritual healing. The most difficult textbook is life itself, one that none of us can avoid reading and interpreting. This book will serve as a guide to interpret the text of life given to each of us and lead to more effective and creative living.

Soulprints, like fingerprints are unique to each person and invisible to the naked eye. When dusted with the whisper of words, soulprints, like fingerprints, can be transferred as images, leaving traces of the self for others to discover if they wish. This slice of my soul is cut straight through the center. If these pages are a pilgrimage, it is not from then to now but from fear to faith, from no to yes and from me to you!Ray Anderson, (1925-2009) was Senior Professor of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary and served on the faculty of the School of Theology since 1976. He is the author of more than twenty books, including, Spiritual Caregiving as Secular Sacrament, The Soul of Ministry, Self Care, Living the Spiritually Balanced Life, and Dancing with Wolves While Feeding the Sheep: The Musings of a Maverick Theologian.

Life contains a rhythm when we see it from beginning to end. Our personal existence is not a series of individual episodes taking place as 'points in time.' Rather, life itself bears us along in a common pilgrimage. At any given time, we are part of a community where birth and death, joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, as well as sowing and harvesting are taking place. This communal sharing of life replicates all the 'seasons of life.' For each time in our lives there is a corresponding season in the life of the human family. We empower faith by practicing hope every day of our lives.

""No one has contributed more substantially to creative, orthodox Christian thinking about human nature, pastoral theology, and counseling over the past 30 years than Ray Anderson. His latest book is most welcomed, particularly given its focus on the family, a pivotal cultural institution of obvious developmental importance, which radical postmodernism has attempted to radically redefine, but which always warrants a fresh, practical, Christian approach and critique.""--Eric L. Johnson, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary""Combining the wisdom accumulated in his years as a seminary professor and scholar, pastor, and counselor, Ray Anderson has given us an outstanding book on marriage and family ministry in contemporary culture. Even more than this, it is the best statement I know of on a theology of the family, including the place of family in the church and wider society. . . . [H]ard issues in family life such as violence and abuse, homosexuality, care for the elderly, and death are addressed with a combination of biblical truth and grace. Something Old, Something New is must reading for all persons involved in ministry today!""--Jack Balswick, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology""For a Church often despairing of biblically based resources in ministering to the family in our postmodern culture, Ray Anderson''s twenty-fifth book focuses on recovering a theology of the family. His seminal volume (written with Dennis Guernsey), On Being Family: Toward a Social Theology of the Family (1985), virtually created the new genre of the ''theology of the family.'' In Something Old, Something New: Marriage and Family Ministry in a Postmodern Culture, we find the fruit of Anderson''s mature reflections that will give hope and guidance to the Church of the twenty-first century. He discusses marriage and parenting, divorce and remarriage, singleness and cohabitation, and other issues within the diversity and relativity characterized by our postmodern context. His decades of experience as a seminary professor and church pastor enable him to articulate a theology of family ministry that offers concrete help for families, churches, and pastors based on the healing ministry of Christ in today''s society.""--Chris Kettler, Friends University, and Todd Speidell, Webb School of KnoxvilleRAY S. ANDERSON (1925-2009) was Senior Professor of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary where he has taught for more than thirty years. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including, The Seasons of Hope, Marriage and Family Ministry in a Postmodern Culture, The Soul of Ministry, Ministry on the Fireline, and The Shape of Practical Theology.

It was printed in block letters with a felt tip pen across the top of the mirror in the men''s restroom in a restaurant in San Francisco: JUDAS COME HOME--ALL IS FORGIVEN! The story of Judas is the story of each of us, to some degree. The past cannot be corrected nor failures erased by remorse. I suspect that the wounds to the soul of Judas were deep and devastating, particularly because they were largely self-inflicted. It hurts to have failed others and even more to have failed ourselves. Judas is the voice within us that will not be put to rest with platitudes nor silenced with sensible palliatives for nonsensical pain. Where human love, even self love, turns away with regret, or even disgust, divine love persists and prevails as the amazing grace of God. It is of this grace that I write, of Judas and of the healing of the deep wounds to his soul. The healing begins, for him as it does for us, with a meeting, a mending, and a mirror, in which we see ourselves reflected in the face of God.""As theologian and pastor, Ray Anderson courageously probes the Judas experience in order to help us get in touch with the depths of despair and hopelessness within ourselves. He finds there, where we often least expect it but should dare to embrace it, the forgiveness of Jesus, the grace of the risen Christ."" -Eugene H. Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, CanadaDr. Anderson offers thoughtful insight into the earthly and eternal significance of the betrayal of Jesus by one of His own hand_picked disciples. While those who tell the story of Judas see him as a traitor, Dr. Anderson explains that Jesus Christ saw Judas as an answer to prayer, as a disciple whose feet He washed, and the man who expressed remorse for his sin of betrayal. After reading this book, you will see Judas as you never have before, and you will revel in God''s amazing grace. This remarkable book is a perfect antidote for those struggling with broken hearts, broken spirits, and wounded souls.Lloyd J. Ogilvie. Former Chaplain. United States SenateRAY S. ANDERSON (1925-2009) was Senior Professor of Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary where he has taught for more than thirty years. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including, The Seasons of Hope, Marriage and Family Ministry in a Postmodern Culture, The Soul of Ministry, Ministry on the Fireline, and The Shape of Practical Theology. He also serves as Teaching Pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach, California.