Download or read book Faithful Disobedience written by Wang Wang and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2022-12-06 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important body of theology, key writings from the Chinese house church movement have been compiled, translated, and made accessible to English speakers. This unique resource will be valuable to practical and political theologians and anyone interested in international relations, political philosophy, history, and intercultural studies.
Download or read book Transforming Acts written by Bruce G. Epperly and published by Energion Publications. This book was released on 2016-07-30 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Healing Marks (Energion Publications, 2012), Dr. Bruce Epperly challenged Christians to take the healings of Jesus seriously as a pattern for how we can become healing communities. Now he turns to the book of Acts as a pattern for the church in the 21st century. He says, “I believe that Acts of the Apostles provides a fluid, open-spirited, and holistic faith for twenty-first century people as well as a vision for congregational transformation and renewal. Anything can happen to those who follow Jesus. Life is adventurous, surprising, and interesting. Worship leads to mission and mission challenges narrow-mindedness and self-imposed limitations. For those who embrace the spirit of Acts of the Apostles, worship will never be boring and every day will be a holy adventure.” This book is not just an exposition of the book of Acts. It is a call to action. But it is more than that. It draws from the lessons of the early church a plan of individual and communal action to live an adventurous life of faith and to change the world. Each chapter includes activities to help you apply the content to your life and mission. Labeled “Transforming Acts” these point to the transforming acts you can take in your personal or congregational life . Acts is a story of a small group of people who set out to do what appeared humanly impossible – change their world. In this book you are invited to become a part of that story, to attempt the humanly impossible, and to bring transformation and renewal to the church and to the entire world.
Download or read book Womanpriest written by Jill Peterfeso and published by Fordham University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is openly available in digital formats thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. While some Catholics and even non-Catholics today are asking if priests are necessary, especially given the ongoing sex-abuse scandal, The Roman Catholic Womanpriests (RCWP) looks to reframe and reform Roman Catholic priesthood, starting with ordained women. Womanpriest is the first academic study of the RCWP movement. As an ethnography, Womanpriest analyzes the womenpriests’ actions and lived theologies in order to explore ongoing tensions in Roman Catholicism around gender and sexuality, priestly authority, and religious change. In order to understand how womenpriests navigate tradition and transgression, this study situates RCWP within post–Vatican II Catholicism, apostolic succession, sacraments, ministerial action, and questions of embodiment. Womanpriest reveals RCWP to be a discrete religious movement in a distinct religious moment, with a small group of tenacious women defying the Catholic patriarchy, taking on the priestly role, and demanding reconsideration of Roman Catholic tradition. Doing so, the women inhabit and re-create the central tensions in Catholicism today.
Download or read book From Ancient Text to Valid Application written by Josiah D. Boyd and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-12-10 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a child needs nutrient-rich calories to grow healthily, so God's people experience maturation through consistent, Spirit-empowered feedings from the Bible prepared by a capable, Spirit-filled chef. This is why Paul emphatically charged Timothy, an overseer of a local congregation, to unwaveringly and unrelentingly "preach the word" (2 Tim 4:1-2), a task that assumes not only Scripture's right explanation but also its valid application. Unfortunately, while much scholarly attention has been paid to the former facet, less has been given to the latter. One homiletician, Abraham Kuruvilla (Privilege the Text! A Theological Hermeneutic for Preaching), has recently attempted to fill this void by articulating and demonstrating a methodology through which a preacher can, with confidence and clarity, lead the people of God from the word of God to its intended, and thus binding, application. This work explores the effectiveness of his proposed theology and hermeneutic for the identification, development, communication, and reception of biblically founded, theologically valid, and hearer-relevant application.
Download or read book Days and Nights with Jesus Or Words for the Faithful written by Hoffmann and published by . This book was released on 1883 with total page 816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Revelation as Civil Disobedience written by Prof. Thomas B. Slater and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book of Revelation is a form of civil disobedience that focuses upon sustaining a faithful witness in spite of the consequences. The author defines civil disobedience as resisting unjust laws in nonviolent ways even if it means the potential death of the protestor (e.g., Rev. 12:11). Along those same lines, the book also redefines conquering as sustaining a faithful witness under duress, modeled after the faithfulness of Jesus, even to death (e.g., 1:5; 2:10, 26-28; 6:9-11; 14:12; 20:4). Even when resistance is expressed in military terms, Christians never take up arms (e.g., Rev 12:7-12; 14:1-5; 19:11-21) but overcome evil through their faithful witness. Slater argues, for example, that Rev 19:21 symbolically refers to a powerful spoken witness that defeats evil. This study develops a way for Christians to read and appreciate the book of Revelation. Many decry the violent nature of the book without noting that Christians are never encouraged to take up arms. Along those same lines, many laypersons see the book as a justification for military intervention against Satan and his minions. They too miss the fact that the book of Revelation never tells Christians to arm themselves. Rather, Christians defeat evil by witnessing faithfully. Both sides would be challenged to rethink and reassess their respective positions given the stress on faithful witness in the book.
Download or read book Faithfulness written by Dr. Ricky Edwards and published by Aion Multimedia. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Ricky Edwards was born on August 16th in Pawnee, Oklahoma. He was four of five children, born to Johnny and Ruthie Edwards. Ricky was raised on a farm Northeast of Pawnee. Here he became a cowboy to the core; working the farm, riding bulls, and breaking horses. He grew up in a Christian home where his father was the song leader and a deacon at the First Assembly of God Church in Skedee, Oklahoma. Since 1986, he and his wife Sally have endeavored to reach and teach people of all ages bringing forth God’s message of salvation, healing, hope and deliverance. Their vision has remained the same and that is to bring restoration to the Body, and teach people who they are in Christ. Their desire is to see that the Harvest is brought in.Today, Pastors Ricky and Sally, pastor Family Worship Center and travel across the country teaching and preaching the Word of God with signs following. They are proclaiming that we are "In the Glory!" They have raised nine children and have seventeen grandchildren.
Download or read book The Voice Compass Bible written by Ecclesia Bible Society, and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 1665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compass is about helping you find the answers you’re looking for in the pages of the Scriptures and allowing that truth to navigate your life. Packed with Bible-reading study helps and using an energizing, new Bible translation, Compass is a Bible designed with you in mind. Do you want to start reading and applying the Bible to your life, but aren’t quite sure where to start? Let Compass point you in the right direction. Features include: In-text notes that include cultural, historical, theological, and devotional thoughts God’s Promises® - Thomas Nelson’s bestselling guide to Scripture for your every need Book introductions Reading plans for every day of the year Topical guides to Scripture and notes In-text maps Part of the Signature Series line of Thomas Nelson Bibles
Download or read book Living Like A Lamb Among 21st Century Wolves written by Paul Estabrooks and published by Castle Quay Books. This book was released on 2023-02-17 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Estabrooks- Living Like A Lamb Among 21st Century Wolves: Balancing Grace and Truth - in a day when the polar opposite world views are endlessly hostile, confrontational and seemingly intent on eliminating each other from public dialogue and discourse of each’s particular views of life, this is a book on how we Christians should respond to our current world dilemmas as well as to each other – with grace and truth! Carefully and skillfully handling Scripture, culture and history, Paul Estabrooks lays out a map for all Christians on how to maintain a grace-filled approach to what are clearly 'wolves intent on Christian destruction and silence’ while sharing the stories of persecuted Christians elsewhere who exemplify being overcomers.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies written by Kirsteen Kim and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-18 with total page 769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies represents more than a century of scholarship related to the theology, history, and methodology of the propagation of Christian faith and the engagement of Christians with cultures, religions, and societies worldwide. It contains more than 40 articles by experts from different disciplinary and ecclesial perspectives, who are from all continents. It not only offers a broad overview of key approaches and issues in mission studies but it also highlights current trends and suggests future developments. The Handbook builds on renewed interest in mission studies this century generated by recent key statements on mission from ecumenical, evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox sources, and by a spate of academic works on the topic. Western church leaders now apply insights from foreign missions (such as, inculturation, liberation, interfaith work, and power encounter) to today's multicultural societies. Meanwhile, there are new initiatives in mission from the Majority World, where most Christians live, so that sending is not only 'from the west to the rest' but 'from everywhere to everywhere'. Therefore, this volume aims to reflect the voices of the receivers of mission as well as its protagonists and to raise awareness of new movements. In a time of growing recognition of 'religions' more generally, this work examines and theorizes the missional dimensions of the world's largest religion: its agendas, growth, outreach, role in public life, effect on cultures, relevance for development, and its approaches to other communities.
Download or read book Trembling Faith written by Taylor Turkington and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At times, our chaotic world reveals hints of the utter brokenness in which we live, like a peek behind the veneer. Neighbors taking advantage of others, unjust verdicts, and unfair beginnings. As people of faith in a powerful God, we want to lift our faces to heaven to cry out or bury our face in our hands to whisper prayers. Either way we utter things like “God, please help,” “God, what are you doing?” “God, those people are terrible!” And we aren’t alone in those words we lift to heaven. In fact, our frustrating and exhausting experience with chaos, injustice, and corruption is much like that of the distressed prophet Habakkuk in the Old Testament. He said those very things. When we’re looking for answers or just additional words for our prayers, his book is for us. His story is a prayer session—a surprisingly relevant one—open for eavesdroppers. We follow his journey of wrestling with evil, and we hear from God how to live. Habakkuk doesn’t see “living by faith” as a cliché to be written on a pillow or bumper sticker, but a way to survive. As you join Taylor Turkington (Bible teacher and former Director of TGC Women’s Training Network) through the timeless story of Habakkuk, you will look at the situation of your own heart and world, and here you will find some of the most powerful chapters of the Bible that both confront and console you. You will learn that the only way to not just survive, but find lasting hope is through gritty, trembling, wrestling faith in the God who works in our chaotic world.
Download or read book Make a Difference written by Rev. Dr. James A. Harnish and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every day we see that things are not right in our world, and as followers of Jesus Christ, we have an impulse to do something about it. We long to connect our passions and gifts with the world’s great needs, making a unique contribution for the healing of the world. In Make a Difference, author James A. Harnish helps United Methodists answer the questions “How can I contribute to God’s healing work in this world?” and “How can I find my place to serve and make a difference?” Drawing upon biblical wisdom and real stories of real people who have found their place to serve, he provides practical guidance to help every disciple make a difference as a participant in God’s transformation of the world. This six-week study is perfect for anyone desiring to engage service or mission as a vital part of discipleship, find a place to serve—in the church, the community, and/or the world engage in God’s work in the world The study includes a book, leader guide, and DVD featuring six engaging and lively discussions with the author and several special guests highlighting opportunities and outcomes of making a difference in this world.
Download or read book The Recent Unpleasantness written by Harold T. Lewis and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2015-06-12 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of the 2003 General Convention approval of the consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay and partnered man, to be a bishop, the Convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh took steps to secede from the Episcopal Church. When it became clear that by rewriting and reinterpreting the canons, the Diocese deemed itself entitled to the assets of the Diocese, the Rector and Vestry of Calvary Church, Pittsburgh, took the unprecedented, and as it turned out, successful action of challenging these actions in civil court, by suing the bishop and other officers of the Diocese. The Recent Unpleasantness tells the story of the circumstances in church and society that long predated Robinson's election, which set the stage for these developments, and discusses the ramifications of the lawsuit in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Episcopal Church, and throughout the Anglican Communion. It is an intriguing tale of the interface of bishops and archbishops, prelates and primates, synods and standing committees, and addresses issues surrounding the challenges and costs of rebuilding a church "by schisms, rent asunder, by heresies distressed."
Download or read book Christian Social Activism and Rule of Law in Chinese Societies written by Chris White and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although Christianity has been a minority religion in Chinese societies, Christians have been powerful catalysts of social activism in seeking to establish democracy and rule of law in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and diasporic communities. The chapters gathered in this collection reveal the vital influence of Christian individuals and groups on social, political, and legal activism in Chinese societies. Written from a range of disciplinary and geographical perspectives, the chapters develop a coherent narrative of Christian activism that illuminates its specific historical, theological, and cultural contexts. Analyzing campaigns for human rights, universal suffrage, and other political reforms, this volume uncovers the complex dynamics of Christian activism, highlighting its significant contributions to the democratization of Greater China.
Download or read book China Nexus written by Benedict Rogers and published by Optimum Publishing International. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 684 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benedict Rogers, born in London, England, first went to China at age eighteen to teach English for six months in Qingdao, three years after the Tiananmen Square massacre. That opened the door to a thirty-year adventure with China, from teaching English in schools and hospitals to working as a journalist in Hong Kong for the first five years after the handover to travelling to China’s borders with Myanmar/Burma and North Korea to document the plight of refugees escaping from Beijing-backed satellite dictatorships and then campaigning for human rights in China, especially for Uyghurs, Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents, and the people of Hong Kong. This book tells the story of his fight for freedom for the peoples of China and neighbouring countries Myanmar and North Korea and sets out how a global movement for human rights in China is emerging and what the free world should do next. It describes the importance of the “China Nexus” in the author’s journey and geopolitics and its challenges. Pioneering international inquiries into forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, the genocide of the Uyghurs and global action for Hong Kong, as well as highlighting the Vatican’s silence, the author has been at the heart of advocacy for human rights in China in recent years. In 2017, on the orders of Beijing, he was denied entry to Hong Kong, 20 years after he had moved to the city and began his working life as a journalist and activist. Benedict Rogers co-founded Hong Kong Watch and worked with a variety of other international groups at the forefront of the fight for freedom, including the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance for China (IPAC), the Stop Uyghur Genocide Campaign, the China Democracy Foundation, the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission which he co-founded, and the international human rights organization CSW with which he has worked for over 25 years. This book hits the Chinese Communist Party hard on their lack of Human Rights efficacy, genocide, and despicable and barbaric organ harvesting programs (an estimated $1 billion US a year business). Rogers takes the readers on a journey through some of the leaders and participants in the Human rights activities that China has suppressed since its inception in 1949. He goes on to dispute and lays to rest all of the specious claims by the tyrants in Beijing that all Chinese citizens are equal and are afforded human and civil rights. Currently, the regime is engaged in re-education, cultural assimilation, and multiple genocides, leading to better citizens for China and the world if one believes Chinese officials. China’s ambassador to Canada says reports of genocide and forced labour of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province are the “lie of the century,” despite international bodies like the United Nations deeming the reports of such activities “numerous and credible.” The author will completely dispel that notion.
Download or read book Religious Entrepreneurism in China s Urban House Churches written by Li Ma and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-27 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a unique historical documentation of the development of the ambitious religious entrepreneurism by leaders of the Early Rain church (and later Western China Presbytery leadership), in an effort to gain social influence in China through local institution-building and global public image management. It unravels the social processes of how this Christian community with a public image of defending religious freedom in China was undermined by an internal loss of moral authority. Based on publicly available texts from Chinese social media that aren’t readily available in the West as well as in-depth interviews, it is framed by existing scholarship in social theories of the public sphere, charismatic domination in social transition, and the role of power in organizational behaviour. These churches’ stories show how Christianity, which has long been politically marginalized in communist China, has not only adapted and challenged the socio-political status quo, but how it was also ironically shaped by the political culture. This is an insightful and critical ethnographic study of one of modern China’s most famous house churches. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Religion in China as well as those working in Religious Studies, Asian studies, Chinese studies, and Mission Studies more generally.
Download or read book Reverberations of the Exodus in Scripture written by R. Michael Fox and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-05-12 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inner-biblical studies is a blossoming field. Within this growing specialization, Reverberations of the Exodus in Scripture is a unique and refreshing contribution. Unlike most studies in this area focusing either solely on how Old Testament passages interact with other Old Testament texts or on the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, this volume examines how a central and paradigmatic biblical event--the exodus from Egypt--resurfaces time and again in both testaments. Furthermore, the collaborative nature of this project has allowed specialists to construct each chapter. Readers of Reverberations of the Exodus in Scripture will gain a better understanding of the role of the exodus throughout the biblical canon and a deeper appreciation for its place in biblical theology.
