Bücher veröffentlicht von SCM Press

John For Today, like the author's earlier best-selling book Paul for Today, combines fresh accessible scholarship with an exploration of the gospel's significance for the contemporary Church and wider world. The Gospel's historical origins, distinctive features and literary patterns are all helpfully illuminated, including John's similarities with and differences from the other Gospels and the much-debated question of the Gospel's real author. Recent criticisms of the Gospel, such as its exclusiveness, alleged anti-semitism and predominantly male characters and language are also examined, together with its relevance for a turbulent world in which religion has become a deeply ambivalent phenomenon. The book seeks to be faithful to the gospel of John in the central position it accords to Jesus, whilst also relating this controversial gospel to the Christian orthodoxy of later centuries.It is a book written for the non-specialist reader, and 'for such a time as this'.

A timely and topical resource that looks into the areas of Christian youth work, faith and politics. Nigel Pimlott aims to inform, engage, empower and resource Christian youth workers and those studying youth work, so that they have a better understanding about the relationship between their work, their faith and politics.

Thirty years ago John Hull wrote "What Prevents Christian Adults from Learning?". This new book asks "What Prevents Christian Adults from Acting?" How has it come about that the Church appears to be so preoccupied with itself? What happened to the quest for the social justice of the Kingdom of God?

In Baptism in the Holy Spirit James Dunn argues that water baptismis only one element in the New Testament pattern of conversionand initiation. The gift of the Spirit, he believes, is the centralelement. For the writers of the New Testament only those who hadreceived the Holy Spirit could be called Christians. For them thereception of the Spirit was a very definite and often very dramaticexperience - the decisive and climactic experience in conversion -initiation - to which Christians were usually recalled when remindedof their Christian faith and experience. In this book James Dunnuncovers the place of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the total complexevent of becoming a Christian. His conclusions will help readers todeepen their understanding of the sacrament of baptism.Since its original publication in 1970 Baptism in the Holy Spirit hasbecome a classic of New Testament scholarship. This new edition,published on the fortieth anniversary of its original publication,includes a new extended Preface in which James Dunn engageswith the debates about Baptism in the Holy Spirit since it was firstpublished.James D. G. Dunn was Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in theUniversity of Durham. He is the author of numerous best-sellingbooks and acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts onNew Testament study.

While a number of secular philosophers have written on global poverty, theologians have either steered clear entirely or simply mimicked the political analysis currently on offer. Christian authors have argued either for a free market solution to global poverty or for a radical reform of global capitalism as the best approach, but the theological underpinnings of such conclusions are noticeable by their absence. Justin Thacker offers a new way forward. He suggests deeply theological answers to questions around the effect of capitalism on global poverty and whether aid is really a sustainable long term solution for the world's poor. This book will challenge theologians, church leaders and congregations to consider much more seriously the huge implications of faith and theology on our attitude to those who live in extreme poverty.

Building on an understanding of the local congregation as the primary location of mission, 'As a fire by burning ...' seeks to explore the relationship between the day-to-day life of local churches and contemporary thinking about mission. Drawing on the first-hand experience of those engaged in mission in a wide variety of different contexts in contemporary Britain, the component parts of church life are explored. What is the relationship between worship and mission? If mission is more than just evangelism, and disciple making is a life-long task, how can this be sustained over the long term? Much has been made of collaborative partnerships in delivering mission objectives, but what are their theological and practical implications for non-Christian civic and voluntary bodies? A number of these rarely addressed themes are explored, revealing critical issues that are rarely addressed, but that can have significant implications if neglected or misunderstood. Rather than relying on a 'one size fits all', off-the-shelf approach to mission, 'As a fire by burning ...' encourages a level of engagement with context, Scripture, prayer and theology that will help to empower a local congregation to discern and shape its own missional life.

Queer theology is a significant new development and central to much current teaching and thinking about gender, sexuality and the body. Controversies in Queer Theology provides an overview of the main areas of difference and debate in queer theologies, engaging with and critiquing all the major writers working in this area. Susannah Cornwall shows how this field is still in flux and the highlights implications for employing queer methodologies across theological work.

Honest to God, originally published in 1963, has been described as the most talked-about theological work of the twentieth century. Its publication work instigated a passionate debate about the nature of Christian belief and doctrine in the white heat of a secular revolution. It also epitomized the revolutionary spirit of a fresh and challenging way of looking at the world, which, throughout the 1960s, was to bring about the disintegration of established orthodoxies and social, political and theological norms. It articulated the anxieties of a generation who saw these traditional givens as no longer acceptable or necessarily credible. Reissued on the 50th anniversary of the original publication, Honest to God is not only a book that generated controversy and debate in its own time, but a piece of honest theology which continues to inspire many in teir search for credible Christianity in today's world.

A Faithful Presence shows how churches work together and of the range of social action undertaken by churches locally and nationally - pastoral, advocacy, campaigning. It is designed to be of interest to clerical and lay audiences across denominations, including those who create, manage and implement social justice initiatives.

Relational theologies turn our traditional starting point for theology on its head.They ask what it is we experience and where it is we intuit God in and through our relation and lack of relation with ourselves, others and the cosmos. It is a form of theological thinking that gives divine agency to all living things. Already existing models of theology and the divine itself may be the starting point for this form of theological reflection, but they are not assumed to be the end point.It is the relationship and the relationality enables knowledge of the divine to emerge. The contributors to this book explore the concept of the emerging divine within human and non-human relationality. They asks questions about the divine dance within, between and around us, and offer space for reflection on the ethical and theological implications of this dance. The book aims to push the boundaries of theology and at the same time to challenge many of its foundations.Contributors:Carter Heyward, Susannah Cornwall, Ursula King, Beverley Clack, Mary Grey,Catherine Keller, Lisa Isherwood, Diarmuid O'Murchu, June Boyce-Tillman,Maaike de Haardt, Jenny Daggers, Natalie K. Watson and Mary Condren. Lisa Isherwood is Director of the Institute for Theological Partnerships at theUniversity of Winchester.Elaine Bellchambers is Senior Lecturer in Religious Education andProfessional Studies at the University of Winchester.