Download or read book Faith Challenges Culture written by Paul O'Callaghan and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-10-25 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern culture we live off and take for granted is an elevated, sophisticated one, containing a great variety of precious anthropological insights and strengths, with a surprising adaptability and openness to absorb, to clarify and to unite. However, in the present moment it comes across, in many cases, as a culture detached from the faith that gave life to it in the first place, and without which it may simply not survive. In fact it has become, of late, a fragile culture, a culture less and less capable of adapting and absorbing and uniting. This may be seen in the way many aspects of modern culture and public life have fallen into a pathology of rationalism, individualism, inequality, discord, ingratitude. This may be seen in our attempt to live in isolation from our fellow humans, unwilling to recognize the world we live in and the privileges we enjoy as God’s gifts. Faith Challenges Culture: A Reflection of the Dynamics of Modernity describes the process in two directions: how culture challenges faith to provide answers that have not been previously given, and how faith challenges culture not only by showing modern culture’s fragility and ambivalence, but also by posing new questions.
Download or read book A Faith of Our Own written by Jonathan Merritt and published by FaithWords. This book was released on 2012-05-08 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every day, major headlines tell the story of how Christianity is attempting to influence American culture and politics. But statistics show that young Americans are disenchanted with a faith that has become culturally antagonistic and too closely aligned with partisan politics. In this personal yet practical work, Jonathan Merritt uncovers the changing face of American Christianity by uniquely examining the coming of age of a new generation of Christians. Jonathan Merritt illuminates the spiritual ethos of this new generation of believers who engage the world with Christ-centered faith but an un-polarized political perspective. Through personal stories and biblically rooted commentary this scion of a leading evangelical family takes a close, thoughtful look at the changing religious and political environment, addressing such divisive issues as abortion, gay marriage, environmental use and care, race, war, poverty, and the imbalance of world wealth. Through Scripture, the examples of Jesus, and personal defining faith experiences, he distills the essential truths at the core of a Christian faith that is now just coming of age.
Download or read book Christ and Culture written by H. Richard Niebuhr and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1956-09-05 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 50th-anniversary edition, with a new foreword by the distinguished historian Martin E. Marty, who regards this book as one of the most vital books of our time, as well as an introduction by the author never before included in the book, and a new preface by James Gustafson, the premier Christian ethicist who is considered Niebuhr’s contemporary successor, poses the challenge of being true to Christ in a materialistic age to an entirely new generation of Christian readers.
Download or read book Future Faith written by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2018-03-23 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Future Faith: Ten Challenges Reshaping the Practice of Christianity, author Wesley Granberg-Michaelson provides a lucid view of how the top ten winds of change blowing through global Christian faith are reshaping the practice of Christianity today. He is uniquely qualified to identify and interpret connection points between global Christian trends and the American church. Drawing on the stories, examples, and personalities of pastors and congregations from throughout the U.S. as well as those from Africa, Asia, Latin America, who are the faces of Christianity's future, Future Faith is designed to inform and empower followers of Jesus to seek new ways of becoming the face of Christ to a rapidly changing world. Leaders and practitioners in church growth, renewal, and planting will be a primary audience for this book. Students of religion from Catholic, evangelical, Pentecostal, and historic Protestant streams will find this book an informative and stimulating resource for pondering together the future of their faith. Small groups engaged in congregational nurture and growth will find in the author a welcome companion for guiding them through the multi-cultural landscape of contemporary faith.
Download or read book Faith and Culture written by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For those who want to love God with their hearts and minds, editors Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington weave together both inspiration and illumination throughout this collection of daily readings. Faith and Culture: A Guide to a Culture Shaped by Faith translates the ideas of today’s Christian thought leaders, delivering them in accessible portions that fit into anyone’s busy schedule. Each chapter interacts with one of seven recurring themes: the Bible and theology, literature, history, contemporary culture, the arts, science and math, and philosophy. Along the way, Kullberg and Arrington explore significant ideas, people, and events from a distinctly Christian worldview. Some of the readings in this book include: Thee Secret Gospels (the Bible and theology), Slavery (history), A Response to God’s Beauty (art), Globalization (contemporary culture), and more Each day spent with this illuminating guide will inspire readers to wonder at the genius, power, and beauty of Jesus.
Download or read book Think Christianly written by Jonathan Morrow and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Think Christianly is about seizing the opportunities we have every day to speak the life Jesus offers into our culture. Tragically, many such opportunities pass us by unclaimed—either because we don’t notice them or we have not prepared ourselves to enter into them. And those around us seem to grow increasingly unwilling to hear anything the church has to say. Jonathan Morrow helps church leaders envision and implement ways for their congregations to “think Christianly” about contemporary questions and to speak in informed, engaging ways. Morrow explores many of the important issues that Christians often hear raised with regard to faith—questions about who Jesus was, the good and bad of religion, pain and evil in the world, the reliability of the Bible, sexuality and intimate relationships, and hope for change, among others. The life and faith issues that Think Christianly addresses lead to cultural moments where Christianity and contemporary culture intersect. This book will help churches take vital steps toward cultivating compassion and competence in speaking faithfully to a questioning world.
Download or read book God s Image and Global Cultures written by Kenneth Nehrbass and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-08-26 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalization has raised numerous questions about theology and culture for Christians. How should we respond to outsourcing and immigration? How does anti-Western sentiment affect the proclamation of the gospel? What is the role of the church in society? This book argues that Christians will be most fulfilled and most effective if they embrace their cultural activity rather than feel ambivalent about it. The central question of this book is, how does bearing God's image relate to cultural activity? Nehrbass explains that "spheres of culture," such as political, technological, and social structures, are systems that God has instilled in humans as his image bearers, so that they can glorify and enjoy him forever. Therefore, a theology of culture involves recognizing that the kingdom of God encompasses heaven and Earth, rather than pitting heaven against Earth. The text surveys anthropological explanations for humanity's dependence on culture, and shows that each explanation provides only partial explanatory scope. The most satisfying explanation is that a major functional aspect of bearing God's image is engaging in culture, since the Trinity has been eternally engaged in cultural functions like ruling, communicating, and creating. Each chapter contains a summary and questions about what it means to be a world-changer in the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Clashing Symbols written by Michael Paul Gallagher and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition provides a guide to the relationship between faith and culture. Providing an introduction to all the major figures, issues and debates, this guide is useful for students and those wishing to unlock the realities of contemporary culture.
Download or read book America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity written by Robert Wuthnow and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of other non-Western religions have become a significant presence in the United States in recent years. Yet many Americans continue to regard the United States as a Christian society. How are we adapting to the new diversity? Do we casually announce that we "respect" the faiths of non-Christians without understanding much about those faiths? Are we willing to do the hard work required to achieve genuine religious pluralism? Award-winning author Robert Wuthnow tackles these and other difficult questions surrounding religious diversity and does so with his characteristic rigor and style. America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity looks not only at how we have adapted to diversity in the past, but at the ways rank-and-file Americans, clergy, and other community leaders are responding today. Drawing from a new national survey and hundreds of in-depth qualitative interviews, this book is the first systematic effort to assess how well the nation is meeting the current challenges of religious and cultural diversity. The results, Wuthnow argues, are both encouraging and sobering--encouraging because most Americans do recognize the right of diverse groups to worship freely, but sobering because few Americans have bothered to learn much about religions other than their own or to engage in constructive interreligious dialogue. Wuthnow contends that responses to religious diversity are fundamentally deeper than polite discussions about civil liberties and tolerance would suggest. Rather, he writes, religious diversity strikes us at the very core of our personal and national theologies. Only by understanding this important dimension of our culture will we be able to move toward a more reflective approach to religious pluralism.
Download or read book Consuming Religion written by Vincent J. Miller and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-08-18 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary theology, argues Miller, is silent on what is unquestionably one of the most important cultural issues it faces: consumerism or "consumer culture." While there is no shortage of expressions of concern about the corrosive effects of consumerism from the standpoint of economic justice or environmental ethics, there is a surprising paucity of theoretically sophisticated works on the topic, for consumerism, argues Miller, is not just about behavioral "excesses"; rather, it is a pervasive worldview that affects our construction as persons-what motivates us, how we relate to others, to culture, and to religion. Consuming Religion surveys almost a century of scholarly literature on consumerism and the commodification of culture and charts the ways in which religious belief and practice have been transformed by the dominant consumer culture of the West. It demonstrates the significance of this seismic cultural shift for theological method, doctrine, belief, community, and theological anthropology. Like more popular texts, the book takes a critical stand against the deleterious effects of consumerism. However, its analytical complexity provides the basis for developing more sophisticated tactics for addressing these problems.
Download or read book Before You Lose Your Faith written by Ivan Mesa and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Jude Leader Kit written by Jackie Hill Perry and published by . This book was released on 2019-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While often overlooked, the Book of Jude remains as relevant today as the time it was written. God has commanded His beloved church to do the necessary work of contending for the faith in a world of unbelief, and as we do, He will keep us from falling into the same deception. In this 7-session study from Jackie Hill Perry, dive into themes of being called, loved, and kept, and learn how to point others to Jesus in grace and truth. We serve others well when we share the whole gospel with them, not just the parts deemed attractive by our culture. Features: Leader helps to guide questions and discussions within small groups Personal study segments to complete between 7 weeks of group sessions Verse-by-verse study for comprehension and application Interactive teaching videos, approximately 8-20 minutes per session WordSearch digital library and extra leader resources Benefits: Recognize God's Word as an anchor in the ever-shifting cultural climate. Discover your God-given identity in a world of deception. See how this small, obscure book in Scripture still speaks to the church today. Video Session Titles and Run Times: Session 1: Jude 1-2 (15:22) Session 2: Jude 3-4 (15:31) Session 3: Jude 5-11 (17:10) Session 4: Jude 14-15 (19:08) Session 5: Jude 20-23 (13:45) Session 6: Jude 24-25 (20:21) Session 7: Wrap-up (8:06)
Download or read book Passing on the Faith written by James L. Heft and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2009-08-25 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the beginning, the Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—have stressed the importance of transmitting religious identity from one generation to the next. Today, that sustaining mission has never been more challenged. Will young people have a faith to guide them? How can faith traditions anchor religious attachments in this secular, skeptical culture? The fruit of a historic gathering of scholars and religious leaders across three faiths and many disciplines, this important book reports on the religious lives of young people in today’s world. It’s also a unique inventory of creative and thoughtful responses from churches, synagogues, and mosques working to keep religion a significant force in those lives. The essays are grouped thematically. Opening the book, Melchor Sanchez de Toca and Nancy Ammerman explore fundamental issues that have an impact on religion—from the cultural effects of global consumerism and personal technology to pluralism and individualism. In Part Two, leading investigators present three leading studies of religiosity among young people and college students in the United States, illuminating the gap between personal values and organized religion—and the emergence of new, different forms of spirituality and faith. How religious institutions deal with these challenges forms the heart of the book—in portraits of “best practices” developed to revitalize traditional institutions, from a synagogue in New York City and a Muslim youth camp in California to the famed French Catholic community of the late Brother John of Taizé. Finally, Jack Miles and Diane Winston weave the findings into a broader perspective of the future of religious belief, practice, and feeling in a changing world. Filled with real-world wisdom, Passing the Faith will be an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand what religions must, and can, do to inspire a vigorous faith in the next generation.
Download or read book The Culture of Interpretation written by Roger Lundin and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 1993 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a broad-ranging account of contemporary American culture, the complex network of symbols, practices, and beliefs at the heart of our society. Lundin explores the historical background of some of our "postmodern" culture's central beliefs and considers their crucial ethical and theological implications.
Download or read book Spiritual Reflections written by Clay R Stauffer and published by . This book was released on 2018-12-06 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the deeper issues that matter most in life: faith, wisdom, values, spirituality, relationships, connection, and self-reflection. As our world becomes more and more secular, people remain restless and hungry to discuss these important topics. What does it mean to grow spiritually? What does it mean to do meaningful soul work? What are the values and priorities that should matter most? What type of culture will our children and grandchildren inherit? Here are a few insights that I believe to be true. -All human beings long for meaning and deeper purpose in their lives. -Jesus Christ continues to speak to and challenge our culture. -Issues of character and integrity are very important. -Growth in the spiritual life has become much more challenging in this busy age of technology, multi- tasking, and over-commitment. -Relationships are essential and can cause great joy and fulfillment as well as pain and heartache. -Politics and ideology have become both polarizing and toxic in many ways, deeply dividing families and friendships. -Wisdom is much more valuable than knowledge. -Social isolation and loneliness will continue to be one of the great challenges of the twenty-first century. -We live in an age of anxiety, where fear abounds and overwhelms many. -We all long to move beyond superficiality to a much deeper level of connection. -There are many values that must be passed down from generation to generation
Download or read book Truth in a Culture of Doubt written by Andreas J. Köstenberger and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2014-09 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Truth in a Culture of Doubt takes readers on a journey to explain topics such as the Bible’s origins, the copying of the Bible, alleged contradictions in Scripture, and the relationship between God and evil. Responding to skeptical scholars such as Bart Ehrman —professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and author of four New York Times bestsellers—this book is written for all serious students of Scripture and will enable you to know how to respond to a wide variety of critical arguments raised against the reliability of Scripture and the truthfulness of Christianity.
Download or read book Faith in the Market written by John Michael Giggie and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals the many ways in which religious groups actually embraced commercial culture to establish an urban presence. [back cover].
