Download or read book A Subversive Gospel written by Michael Mears Bruner and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conference on Christianity and Literature (CCL) Book of the Year - Literary Criticism The good news of Jesus Christ is a subversive gospel, and following Jesus is a subversive act. These notions were embodied in the literary work of American author Flannery O'Connor, whose writing was deeply informed by both her Southern context and her Christian faith. In this Studies in Theology and the Arts volume, theologian Michael Bruner explores O'Connor's theological aesthetic and argues that she reveals what discipleship to Christ entails by subverting the traditional understandings of beauty, truth, and goodness through her fiction. In addition, Bruner challenges recent scholarship by exploring the little-known influence of Baron Friedrich von Hügel, a twentieth-century Roman Catholic theologian, on her work. Bruner's study thus serves as a guide for those who enjoy reading O'Connor and—even more so—those who, like O'Connor herself, follow the subversive path of the crucified and risen one. The Studies in Theology and the Arts series encourages Christians to thoughtfully engage with the relationship between their faith and artistic expression, with contributions from both theologians and artists on a range of artistic media including visual art, music, poetry, literature, film, and more.
Download or read book Subversive Kingdom written by Ed Stetzer and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2012 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Noted missiologist/church researcher Ed Stetzer offers an accessible treatment of the doctrine of the kingdom of God, inviting readers to actively explore, advance, and live in this "subversive kingdom" today.
Download or read book A Subversive Gospel written by Michael Mears Bruner and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The good news of Jesus Christ is a subversive gospel, and following Jesus is a subversive act. Exploring the theological aesthetic of American author Flannery O'Connor, Michael Bruner argues that her fiction reveals what discipleship to Jesus Christ entails by subverting the traditional understandings of beauty, truth, and goodness.
Download or read book Subversive Jesus written by Craig Warren Greenfield and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Jesus left the most exclusive gated community in the universe to come live with the people he loved and gave his life for, he turned everything we know and believe about life on its head. Jesus said that he came to bring good news to the poor, but most Western Christians remain disconnected and isolated from the poor and their contexts of injustice. Even our churches echo society’s pressure to isolate ourselves from the margins (e.g. by moving to a better suburb) and instead teach us how to be “nice people” who worship a “nice Jesus” and don’t disrupt the status quo. Convinced that Jesus places love for the poor and the pursuit of justice central, Craig Greenfield has sought to follow in Christ’s footsteps by living among people at the edges of society for the last fourteen years. His quest to follow this Subversive Jesus has taken Craig and his young family from the slums of Asia to inner city Canada and back again. This is the story of how Jesus led them to the margins: initiating the Pirates of Justice flash mobs, sharing their home with detoxing crackheads, welcoming homeless panhandlers and prostitutes to the dinner table, and ultimately sparking a movement to reach the world’s most vulnerable children. This book is a strong and potentially controversial critique of the status quo too often found in our churches, but it offers an inspirational and hopeful vision of another way. While readers may not relocate to a slum, they will certainly come to view their lives and ministry through a fresh lens—reconsidering how they are uniquely called by Jesus to subversively love the poor and break down systems of injustice in their sphere of influence.
Download or read book The Subversive Gospel written by Tom Hanks and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-01-19 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do the New Testament writers actually teach about (1) the poor, (2) women, and (3) sexual minorities? Why do traditional commentaries and introductions so often ignore or treat superficially such burning questions churches grapple with today? Must we seek out specialized monographs to get adequate information and satisfactory answers in each area? At last, in a single volume Tom Hanks brings together the fruit of decades of study, examining each New Testament book in each of these three crucial areas, which often overlap in human experience (Latin American male liberation theologians often forget that the option for the poor may involve solidarity with a lesbian of color who wants to be ordained!). Building on his pioneering study on oppression and poverty in Biblical theology (Orbis 1984; Wipf 2000) and his Anchor Bible Dictionary article on Poverty in the New Testament (which the New York Times review commended for its balance), Hanks analyzes the teaching of each New Testament book regarding the main cause of poverty (oppression) and the variety of liberating Christian responses. Feminist and womanist studies are mined to highlight the presence/absence and role/leadership of women in each New Testament book. The remarkable absence of modern notions of family and family values in the New Testament books is emphasized, along with the prominence of sexual minorities as authors and subjects of the New Testament books. L. William Countryman comments regarding the poor, women and sexual minorities: Tom Hanks has brought these issues to the exegesis of the New Testament in a sustained and orderly fashion. He demonstrates beyond question that most of the New Testament authors were not interested in maintaining the household structures of the ancient Mediterranean and that, indeed, most of the individuals presented in the New Testament documents would not have seemed to be models of 'family values' either in their time or todayÉ.The works of Hanks and [Theodore W.] Jennings, with their detailed and careful argumentation, show that excellent work is being done in this vein. However surprising their conclusions may be to casual readers (or offensive to readers protecting what they conceive as orthodoxy), they are, in fact, deeply grounded in attentive scholarly work (Dirt, Greed & Sex, Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007, p. 251-252).
Download or read book Compassion as a Subversive Activity written by David Urion and published by Cowley Publications. This book was released on 2006-10-25 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To Dr. David Urion’s question, “How can I help you?” the father of the young boy with autism responded in a small voice that choked back some tears, “Be with us. Keep us company. This is so lonely.” This book is part of Dr. Urion’s attempt to keep his promise, a promise which in fact we all made to this family and to many families on the day of their child’s baptism. Baptism by baptism, in each of our faith communities, we vow to do everything in our power to support them in their life in God. Urion beckons us to contemplate the miraculous healings in the Gospel of Mark as subversive political acts of power that provide examples of restoring the integrity and the wholeness of the community, not just for the persons who are overtly healed but for the community as well. The tales of power he invites us to consider in this book reflect upon the extraordinary and paradoxical power of the powerless.
Download or read book Subversive Spirituality written by Eugene H. Peterson and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 1997-06-27 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Subversive Spirituality Peterson has gathered together a host of writings penned over the past twenty-five years that reflect on the overlooked facets of the spiritual life. Comprising occasional pieces, short biblical studies, poetry, pastoral readings, and interviews, this work captures the epiphanies of life with the pleasing pastoral style and inspiring depth of insight for which Peterson is well known. Peterson describes his book this way: "This gathering of articles and essays, poems and conversations, is a kind of kitchen midden of my noticings of the obvious in the course of living out the Christian life in the vocational context of pastor, writer, and professor. The randomness and repetitions and false starts are rough edges that I am leaving as is in the interests of honesty. Spirituality is not, by and large, smooth. I do hope, however, that these pieces will be found to be freshly phrased".
Download or read book Subversive Witness written by Dominique DuBois Gilliard and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn to leverage privilege. Privilege is a social consequence of our unwillingness to reckon with and turn from sin. But properly stewarded, it can help us see and participate in God's inbreaking kingdom. Scripture repeatedly affirms that privilege is real and declares that, rather than exploiting it for selfish gain or feeling immobilized by it, Christians have a responsibility to leverage it. Subversive Witness asks us to grapple with privilege, indifference, and systemic sin in new ways by using biblical examples to reveal the complex nature of privilege and Christians' responsibility in stewarding it well. Dominique DuBois Gilliard highlights several people in the Bible who understood this kingdom call. Through their stories, you will discover how to leverage privilege to: Resist Sin Stand in Solidarity with the Oppressed Birth Liberation Create Systemic Change Proclaim the Good News Generate Social Transformation By embodying Scripture's subversive call to leverage--and at times forsake--privilege, readers will learn to love their neighbors sacrificially, enact systemic change, and grow more Christlike as citizens of God's kingdom.
Download or read book Subversive Wisdom written by Elbert W. Newton and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2012-05-11 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subversive Wisdom makes the case that in the Gospel of John, Jesus walks and talks like Lady Wisdom of the Hebrew Scriptures. In John, Jesus is Wisdom incarnate, speaking and demonstrating the subversive wisdom of the way of the cross; he is a sort of trickster, confusing and frustrating his enemies, acting in ways counter to convention, and driving out the "ruler of this world" through the upside-down logic that comes "from above." Subversive Wisdom explores literary themes in the Gospel of John such as Jesus as Torah, the "heavenly" perspective of the narrator and Jesus, political terminology used throughout the Gospel, and the New Exodus.
Download or read book Subversive Spirituality written by L. Paul Jensen and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subversive Spirituality links the practice and study of Christian spirituality with Christian mission. It develops a twofold thesis: grace, spiritual disciplines, and mission practices are inseparably linked in the mission of Jesus, of the early church, and of several historical renewal movements, as well as in a contemporary field research sample; and amidst the collapse of space and time evidenced by our culture's increasingly hurried pace of life, more time and space are needed for regular solitary and communal spiritual practices in church, mission, and leadership structures if Christian mission is to transform people and culture in our time. This requires a subversion of the collapsed spatial and temporal codes that have infected our Christian institutions. Jensen employs methods and approaches from a variety of academic disciplines to explore both spirituality in terms of space and time and mission in terms of deed and word. Specifically, Jensen examines the spirituality and mission of Jesus, the early church, the apostolic fathers, Origen, the Devotio Moderna, the early Jesuits, David Brainerd, and several women in 19th century Protestant missions. He considers the spirituality and mission that have arisen within the postmodern generations born after 1960. Based on the theological, historical, cultural, and field analyses of this study, a model for spirituality and mission is proposed. The model addresses the contemporary collapse of space and time and appears to have widespread applicability to diverse cultures and eras. Jensen's model is applied to the pluralistic and postmodern milieu of North America with recommendations for spirituality and mission in church, mission, and educational structures. A derivative model for teaching and practicing spirituality and mission in the academy, which also has application for non-formal leadership development structures, is also proposed.
Download or read book Announcing the Reign of God written by Mortimer Arias and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2001-01-22 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 'Announcing the Reign of God' Mortimer Arias proposes that the time has come to recover in its fullness the biblical perspective of the kingdom for the mission of the church today and particularly for our evangelistic witness.
Download or read book Subversive written by Crystal Downing and published by Broadleaf Books . This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Known for her bestselling detective novels, Dorothy L. Sayers lived a fascinating, groundbreaking life as a novelist, feminist, Oxford scholar, and important influence on the spiritual life of C.S. Lewis. This pioneering woman not only forged a literary career for herself but also spoke about faith and culture in revolutionary ways as she addressed the evergreen question of to what extent faith should hold on to tradition and to what extent it should evolve with a changing culture. Thanks to her unmatched wisdom, prophetic tone, and insistent strength, Dorothy Sayers is a voice that we cannot afford to ignore. Providing a blueprint for bridge-building in contemporary, polarizing contexts, Subversive shows how Sayers used edgy, often hilarious metaphors to ignite new ways to think about Christianity, shocking people into seeing the truth of ancient doctrine in a new light. Urging readers to reassess interpretations of the Bible that impede the cause of Christ, Sayers helps twenty-first-century Christians navigate a society increasingly suspicious of evangelical vocabularies and find new ways to talk and think about faith and culture. Ultimately, she will inspire believers, on both the right and the left, to evaluate how and why their language perpetuates divisive certitude rather than the hopeful humility of faith, and will show us all a better way forward.
Download or read book Parables as Subversive Speech written by William R. Herzog II and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1994-05-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Herzog shows that the focus of the parables was not on a vision of the glory of the reign of God but on the gory details of the way oppression served the interests of the ruling class. The parables were a form of social analysis, as well as a form of theological reflection. Herzog scrutinizes their canonical form to show the distinction between its purpose for Jesus and for evangelists. To do this, he uses the tools of historical criticism, including form criticism and redaction criticism.
Download or read book Subversive Sabbath written by A. J. Swoboda and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a 24/7 culture of endless productivity, workaholism, distraction, burnout, and anxiety--a way of life to which we've sadly grown accustomed. This tired system of "life" ultimately destroys our souls, our bodies, our relationships, our society, and the rest of God's creation. The whole world grows exhausted because humanity has forgotten to enter into God's rest. This book pioneers a creative path to an alternative way of existing. Combining creative storytelling, pastoral sensitivity, practical insight, and relevant academic research, Subversive Sabbath offers a unique invitation to personal Sabbath-keeping that leads to fuller and more joyful lives. A. J. Swoboda demonstrates that Sabbath is both a spiritual discipline and a form of social justice, connects Sabbath-keeping to local communities, and explains how God may actually do more when we do less. He shows that the biblical practice of Sabbath-keeping is God's plan for the restoration and healing of all creation. The book includes a foreword by Matthew Sleeth.
Download or read book The Subversive Gospel written by Tom Hanks and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-01-19 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do the New Testament writers actually teach about (1) the poor, (2) women, and (3) sexual minorities? Why do traditional commentaries and introductions so often ignore or treat superficially such burning questions churches grapple with today? Must we seek out specialized monographs to get adequate information and satisfactory answers in each area? At last, in a single volume Tom Hanks brings together the fruit of decades of study, examining each New Testament book in each of these three crucial areas, which often overlap in human experience (Latin American male liberation theologians often forget that the "option for the poor" may involve solidarity with a lesbian of color who wants to be ordained!). Building on his pioneering study on oppression and poverty in Biblical theology (Orbis 1984; Wipf 2000) and his Anchor Bible Dictionary article on "Poverty" in the New Testament (which the New York Times review commended for its balance), Hanks analyzes the teaching of each New Testament book regarding the main cause of poverty (oppression) and the variety of liberating Christian responses. Feminist and womanist studies are mined to highlight the presence/absence and role/leadership of women in each New Testament book. The remarkable absence of modern notions of "family" and "family values" in the New Testament books is emphasized, along with the prominence of sexual minorities as authors and subjects of the New Testament books. L. William Countryman comments regarding the poor, women and sexual minorities: "Tom Hanks has brought these issues to the exegesis of the New Testament in a sustained and orderly fashion. He demonstrates beyond question that most of the New Testament authors were not interested in maintaining the household structures of the ancient Mediterranean and that, indeed, most of the individuals presented in the New Testament documents would not have seemed to be models of 'family values' either in their time or today....The works of Hanks and [Theodore W.] Jennings, with their detailed and careful argumentation, show that excellent work is being done in this vein. However surprising their conclusions may be to casual readers (or offensive to readers protecting what they conceive as orthodoxy), they are, in fact, deeply grounded in attentive scholarly work" (Dirt, Greed & Sex, Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007, p. 251-252).
Download or read book Plundering Egypt written by G. P. Wagenfuhr and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-03-30 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian engagement with economics tends to baptize preexisting sociopolitical perspectives, thereby assuming a predetermined metaphysical narrative. What happens when the story of the development of economics, told from an anthropological and sociological perspective, is juxtaposed with a biblical theology that focuses primarily on relationships? Wagenfuhr tests a theological method grounded in three kinds of relationships--Creator-creature, estrangement, and Reconciler-reconciled--by comparing these with a fourth relationship: the economic. He argues that economic relationships, and the worlds they create throughout history, are the fruit of relationships estranged from God. Much theology has committed itself to a metaphysic rooted in the reality of economics and has told a metaphysical story that tends to legitimize current sociopolitical realities. Wagenfuhr argues that reconciliation with God is entirely subversive to economic relationships. No economic relationship or system is established or justified by God, but neither does he reject them. Instead, the love of God in Christ speaks the economic language of a people, with a critical edge, leading to loving subversion of any and all economic relationships. This book argues for a robust theology that offers the post-Christendom church a renewed sense of the total scale of God's mission of reconciliation.
Download or read book Subversive Christianity Second Edition written by Brian J. Walsh and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where is Western culture going? What should Christians think about it? Those who already ask these questions often come up with confused answers. Those who do not are, arguably, living in a fool's paradise (or a fool's hell.) In this second edition of Subversive Christianity, Brian Walsh returns to the themes of cultural discernment that he unpacked more than twenty years ago. In a new Postscript, Walsh revisits Francis Fukuyama, Bruce Cockburn, and the prophet Jeremiah and asks, Where are we now? In light of 9/11 and the world economic crisis of 2008, how do we discern the times, and what does that discernment tell us about the calling of the church?
