Bücher veröffentlicht von William B Eerdmans Publishing Co

The history of the interaction between science and religion is fraught with tension, although, as philosopher Phil Dowe demonstrates, many thoughtful and religious people have also found harmony between these two crucial fields. This fascinating book insightfully surveys the relationship of science, reason, and religion, giving special attention to the most contentious topics -- cosmology, evolution, and miracles. Providing a superb introduction to the philosophy of science, Dowe's Galileo, Darwin, and Hawking contends that there are four basic ways to relate science and religion. Two of them, naturalism and religious science, present these endeavors as antagonistic. By contrast, an independence view understands them as wholly unrelated. Finally, an interaction account sees religion and science as complementary -- perhaps even dependent on one another. Dowe finds this last perspective the most historically and philosophically compelling. He argues his case by exploring the history of science, highlighting the life and work of three scientific giants: Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking.

Every stage of life brings out certain human characteristics, and according to Kenda Creasy Dean, adolescence is particularly characterized by passion. If the church is to speak meaningfully to youth and in turn reap the many benefits that young people have to offer, then its ministry must be predicated on passion -- the Passion of Christ, the passion of youth, and the passionate faith that results when these two things come together. The uniqueness of Practicing Passion lies in its relocating youth ministry in practical theology rather than in educational theory or psychological or social development. While youth ministry has routinely capitalized on the passions of adolescents, little attention has been given to the theological mooring that youth need to connect with the church and hold firm amid the growing demands of popular culture. Focusing on the theological resonance between the Passion of Christ and adolescents' experience of passion, Dean develops a framework for youth ministry that draws on the historic practices of the Christian community as a "curriculum of passion." Offering a compelling new model for reaching, discipling, and empowering today's young adults, Practicing Passion is a vital resource for anyone already engaged in or preparing for youth ministry.

Boris Jakim here presents two major theological essays by Russian Orthodox theologian Sergius Bulgakov in English translation for the first time. On Holy Relics, a 1918 response to Bolshevik desecration of the relics of Russian saints, develops a comprehensive theology of holy relics, connecting them with the Incarnation and showing their place in sacramental theology. The second essay, On the Gospel Miracles, written in 1932, presents a Christological doctrine of miracles, focusing on how human activity relates to the works of Christ. Both essays are suffused with Bulgakov''s faith in Christian resurrection -- and with his signature religious materialism, in which the corporeal is illuminated by the spiritual and the earthly is transfigured into the heavenly.

There are many histories of overseas mission and many histories of the last days of Great Britain?'s empire in Africa, but there has been no book-length study on the relationship between them until now. In British Missionaries and the End of Empire, historian John Stuart thoroughly and critically examines British Protestant missionary experiences during the tumultuous years between 1939 and 1964 in east, central, and southern Africa. Focusing on Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, and Kenya (with an eye for South African influence on mission affairs), Stuart portrays the uneven and evolving relationship between Protestant missionaries, the British empire, and African nationalists. He shows how missionaries sometimes supported empire, sometimes drew comfort from it, sometimes criticized it, yet finally learned to live with its formal demise, continuing their work in the newly formed African independent states even after the end of empire.

The Protestant doctrine of vocation has had a profound influence on American culture, but in recent years central tenets of this doctrine have come under assault. Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life explores current responses to the classic view of vocation and offers a revised statement and application of this doctrine for contemporary North American Christians. According to Douglas Schuurman, many Christians today find it both strange and difficult to interpret their social, economic, political, and cultural lives as responses to God's calling. To renew this biblical perspective, Schuurman argues, Christians must recover the language, meaning, and reality of life as vocation, and his book helps do just that. Developed in dialogue with audiences as diverse as college students, industrial workers, business leaders, church leaders, and professional theologians and ethicists, the book examines the theological and ethical dimensions of vocation as these have been understood historically and in relation to our modern social setting.

Adam and Eve worked. Jacob and Joseph worked. So did Ruth, David, Daniel, Jonah, Martha, Priscilla and Aquila, Paul -- and most people in the Old and New Testaments. In Work Matters marketplace theology expert R. Paul Stevens revisits more than twenty biblical accounts -- from Genesis to Revelation -- exploring through them the theological meaning of every sort of work, manual or intellectual, domestic or commercial. Taken together, his short, pithy reflections on these well-known Bible passages add up to a comprehensive, Bible-based theology of work -- one that will be equally useful for seminars, classes, Bible studies, and individuals seeking to grasp more fully the theological dimensions of their daily labor.

How can we reconcile the ideal church described by theology with the broken church that we see in the world? In this book Joseph Small argues that the church's true identity is known somewhere in the tension between the two. Small revisits familiar ecclesiological concepts--people of God, the body of Christ, the communion of the Holy Spirit--but rather than focusing on theological abstractions or worldly cynicism, he carefully evaluates the church in its scriptural, historical, theological, and social contexts. Both sociologically honest and theologically discerning, Flawed Church, Faithful God offers a constructive Reformed yet ecumenical ecclesiology for the real world.

Informed take on the amazing growth of a very unusual missionary organizationThe two-sided mission organization comprising Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics is a paradox that begs for an explanation. The Summer Institute has long been doing laudable linguistic, humanitarian work in many countries, while Wycliffe has been one of the largest, fastest growing, and most controversial Christian missionary enterprises in the world. In this wide-ranging study Boone Aldridge--a religious historian and twenty-year insider at WBT-SIL--looks back at the organization's early years, from its inception in the 1930s to the death of its visionary founder, William Cameron Townsend, in 1982. He situates the iconic institution within the evolving landscape of mid-twentieth-century evangelicalism, examines its complex and occasionally confusing policies, and investigates the factors that led, despite persistent criticism from many sides, to its remarkable rise to prominence.

A scholarly and comprehensive exposition of Revelation written in the language of the layperson. The verse-by-verse commentary is preceded by a brief discusion of authorship, date, setting, structure, and various methods of interpretation as well as by an analytical outline of the book.

In this distinctive textbook for Hebrew Bible courses, author Tzvi Novick's approach is thematic rather than chronological. Sorting the books according to their historical context, theological claims, and literary conventions, Novick examines and elucidates the historical and intellectual development of the Hebrew Bible. With attentiveness to both historical-critical and traditional-canonical approaches, An Introduction to the Scriptures of Israel focuses on the dichotomy of the particular and the universal. It shows how this dichotomy impacts each book's style and content and how it informs the development of Jewish and Christian traditions. This nontraditional textbook is coherent, engaging, and succinct--a perfect resource for any introductory Hebrew Bible course.ContentsPreface Abbreviations 1. Three Introductions 2. The Wisdom Tradition: Religion without Revelation 3. Revelation and Love: The Patriarchal Narratives and the Song of Songs 4. Joseph and Narrative 5. The Exodus: Freedom and Sonship 6. Sinai: Covenant and Code 7. The Problem of Monarchy: Samuel and Kings 8. Condemning Israel, Sparing the Nations: Amos and Jonah 9. Eden and the Art of Reading 10. Priestly Theology and Holy Space 11. Exile and Return: Prophetic Visions 12. The Consolidation of Judaism: Temple and Torah 13. Violence and Identity: Joshua and Judges 14. Jews, Gentiles, and Gender: Esther, Ruth, Ezra, and Nehemiah 15. Apocalyptic: Daniel and the Dead Sea Scrolls 16. The Israelite at Prayer: The Book of Psalms Subject Index Scripture and Other Ancient Sources Index

American Christians today, says Michael Barram, have a signifi­cant blind spot when it comes to economic matters in the Bible. In this book Barram reads biblical texts related to matters of money, wealth, and poverty through a missional lens, showing how they function to transform our economic reasoning.Barram searches for insight into God's purposes for economic justice by exploring what it might look like to think and act in life-giving ways in the face of contemporary economic orthodoxies. The Bible repeatedly tells us how to treat the poor and marginalized, Barram says, and faithful Christians cannot but reflect carefully and concretely on such concerns.Written in an accessible style, this biblically rooted study reflects years of research and teaching on social and economic justice in the Bible and will prove useful for lay readers, preachers, teachers, students, and scholars.

Positive mentoring relationships are held to be essential to the formation of strong Christian leaders--but why? How can theological and biblical insights inform mentoring relationships? And what do these vital relationships look like across a range of Christian experience? Opening multiple angles of vision on the practice of mentoring, Dean K. Thompson and D. Cameron Murchison here present a group of eminent scholars who explore mentoring from biblical-theological perspectives, within the context of diverse national and international communities, and across generations. CONTRIBUTORS: David L. Bartlett Walter Brueggemann Katie Geneva Cannon Thomas W. Currie Cristian De La Rosa Jill Duffield Elizabeth Hinson Hasty Luke Timothy Johnson Kwok Pui Lan Thomas G. Long Melva Lowry Martin E. Marty Rebekah Miles D. Cameron Murchison Camille Cook Murray Rodger Nishioka Douglas Ottati Alton B. Pollard III Cynthia L. Rigby Dean K. Thompson Theodore J. Wardlaw

Explores how the church has engaged--and should engage--the American contextWhat might faithful and meaningful Christian witness look like within our changing contemporary American context?After analyzing contemporary challenges and developing a missiological approach for the US church, Craig Van Gelder and Dwight Zscheile reflect on the long, complex, and contested history of Christian mission in America. Five distinct historical periods from the beginning of the colonial era to the dawn of the third millennium are reviewed and critiqued.They then bring the story forward to the present day, discussing current realities confronting the church, discerning possibilities of where and how the Spirit of God might be at work today, and imagining what participating in the triune God's mission may look like in an uncertain tomorrow.

The distinction between God's law and God's gospel lies at the core of the Lutheran and Reformed traditions--and has long been a point of controversy between them. God's Two Words offers new contributions from ten key Lutheran and Reformed scholars on the theological significance of the law-gospel distinction.Following introductory chapters that define the concepts of law and gospel from each tradition, contributors explore how the distinction between law and gospel plays out in theology, preaching, the reading of Scripture, and pastoral care. As it traces both the common ground and the areas of disagreement between the two traditions, this book amplifies and clarifies an important conversation that has been ongoing since the sixteenth century.CONTRIBUTORSMichael Allen Charles Arand Erik H. Herrmann Kelly Kapic Peter Malysz Mark C. Mattes Steven Paulson Katherine Sonderegger Scott Swain Kevin J. Vanhoozer