Download or read book Hybrid Church in the City written by Christopher Baker and published by SCM Press. This book was released on 2013-02-11 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been a growing interest in the rapidly evolving nature of cities in the past 10-15 years, but especially in the last 5 years, and the profound impact this is having upon our understanding of community, belonging and church. This book shows that theology in an urban context has developed way beyond the inner-city nostaligia. It is a challenging, critical and constructive study of the role of the church in cities.
Download or read book The Hybrid Church in the City written by Christopher Richard Baker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The era of post-colonialism and globalisation has brought new intensities of debate concerning the existence of diversity and plurality, and the need to work in partnerships to resolve major problems of injustice and marginalisation now facing local and global communities. The Church is struggling to connect with the significant economic, political and cultural changes impacting on all types of urban context but especially city centres, inner rings and outer estates and the new ex-urban communities being developed beyond the suburbs. This book argues that theology and the church need to engage more seriously with post-modern reality and thought if points of connection (both theologically and pastorally) are going to be created. The author proposes a sustained engagement with a key concept to emerge from post-modern experience - namely the concept of the Third Space. Drawing on case studies from Europe and the USA primarily, this book examines examples of Third Space methodologies to ask questions about hybrid identities and methods churches might adopt to effectively connect with post-modern cities and civil society. Particular areas of focus by the author include: the role and identity of church in post-modern urban space; the role of public theology in addressing key issues of marginalisation and urbanisation as they impact in the 21st century; the nature and role of local civil society as a local response to globalised patterns of urban, economic, social and cultural change.
Download or read book Transfiguring Capitalism written by John Atherton and published by Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. This book was released on 2008 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addresses key problems in contemporary life, and raises important questions about our growing awareness of the limits of contemporary ways of living with modern economies and modern religion. This book explores possible alternatives to such capitalism.
Download or read book Interrupting the Church s Flow written by Al Barrett and published by SCM Press. This book was released on 2020-10-30 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we develop and embody an ecclesiology, in contexts of urban marginality, that is radically receptive to the gifts and challenges of the agency of our non-Christian neighbours? Drawing on resources from political theologies, and in particular conversation with Graham Ward and Romand Coles, this book challenges our lazy understanding of receptivity, digging deep to uncover a rich theological seam which has the potential to radically alter how theologians think about what we draw from urban places. It offers a game changing liberative theology rooted not in the global south but from a position of self-critical privilege.
Download or read book Seeking a City with Foundations written by David W. Smith and published by Langham Publishing. This book was released on 2019-03-31 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than half the people in the world live in cities, including a growing number of megacities with populations exceeding ten million people. This trend means that an understanding of urbanization must be an urgent priority for Christian theology and mission across the globe. This updated edition of Seeking a City with Foundations, with an additional chapter, explores Christian responses to the city, ranging from rejecting the urban as evil, to embracing it as being central to God’s redemptive purposes. Drawing from a wide range of disciplines, including history, social science, urban planning, and the history of art, readers are given a detailed text which confronts the challenges that contemporary urbanization presents to world Christianity. Looking at urbanism as a theme throughout Scripture, culminating with the great vision of the New Jerusalem, David Smith explains that God’s own future is revealed as urban, highlighting the need to identify modern-day idols as we share the gospel in cities and acknowledge the impact of global economic forces. The book also explores the causes of what has been called the divided city and traces the urban theme through the Bible to present an alternative vision of the urban future – a future in which the injustices in ever-growing slums and a crisis of meaning among the privileged might be overcome through the power of the reconciling message of the cross. This timely book proposes a way forward for urban mission, highlighting that transformation of our cities must be the focal point of Christian mission and hope.
Download or read book Entering the New Theological Space written by John Reader and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-06 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents theological reflections on the changing nature of church mission and Christian identity within a theology of 'blurred encounter' - a physical, social, political and spiritual space where once solid hierarchies and patterns are giving way to more fluid and in many ways unsettling exchanges. The issues raised and dynamics explored apply to all socially-produced space, thus tending to 'blur' that most fundamental of theological categories - namely urban vs. rural theology. Engaging in a sharper way with some of the helpful but inevitably broad-brush conclusions raised by recent church-based reports (Mission-shaped Church, Faithful Cities), the authors examine some of the practical and theological implications of this research for the issue of effective management and therefore church leadership generally. Speaking to practitioners in the field of practical theology as well as those engaged in theological and ministerial training, key voices encompass dimensions of power and conflict, and identify some of the present and future opportunities and challenges to church/faith-based engagement and leadership arising from blurred encounters. Contributors - practitioners and theorists - cover a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary professional contexts and academic/denominational interests. Contributors include: John Atherton, John Reader, Helen Cameron, Martyn Percy, Malcolm Brown, Karen Lord, Clare McBeath and Margaret Goodall.
Download or read book In Case of Katrina written by Ellen Jeffery Blue and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-08-04 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since six months after landfall, Ellen Blue has taught "The Church's Response to Katrina." It sidesteps disaster response, where clearly the church should be involved. What was unclear was how leaders in a connectional denomination like United Methodism should decide which churches to merge or decommission after floods destroyed seventy churches and displaced ninety pastors, and no one knew how many members would return. Katrina gave the church a chance to re-make itself without deteriorating structures in no-longer-thriving neighborhoods. Yet as members returned to chaos, they sought solace. Should the church meet needs for Sanctuary and reassurance or use newfound flexibility to seek justice? In Case of Katrina examines leadership strategies and the theological convictions that underlay them during the struggle to decide. The larger United Methodist Church controls real estate, and the hierarchy had the power to choose. Instead they let verdicts spring primarily from congregants and pastors on the ground through a long, controversial process. Recovery has been entwined with issues of race and class. Cooperation among African American and Anglo congregations has birthed vibrant multi-racial worship and ministries. Yet other prophetic ministry was left undone, and it should set the agenda for the next decade. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }
Download or read book Multiple Faiths in Postcolonial Cities written by Jonathan Dunn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the challenges of living together after empire in many post-colonial cities. It is organized in two sections. The first section focuses on efforts by people of multiple faiths to live together within their contexts, including such efforts within a neighborhood in urban Manchester; the array of attempts at creating multi-faith spaces for worship across the globe; and initiatives to commemorate divisive conflict together in Northern Ireland. The second section utilizes particular postcolonial methods to illuminate pressing issues within specific contexts—including women’s leadership in an indigenous denomination in the variegated African landscape, and baptism and discipleship among Dalit communities in India. In the context of growing multiculturalism in the West, this volume offers a postcolonial theological resource, challenging the epistemologies in the Western academy.
Download or read book Free Churches and Society written by Lesley Husselbee and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of the key improvements to social conditions in the United Kingdom have been made by Christians. Most of us would be able to think of such key Anglican figures as William Wilberforce, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury or Dr Thomas Barnardo, but lesser known contributions were made behind the scenes by significant members of the Non-Conformist Churches. This book traces the Free Church contribution to society from 1800 to the present day. It looks at the work of campaigners, co-operative societies, philanthropists and politicians, and traces the ways in which conditions in slums, education, and industry were improved, including work with women and with black and ethnic minorities. There is a growing interest in the part the churches can play today in community development and in the building of social capital. This book will show that some of the things now seen as government initiatives had their origins in the work of Free Church pioneers.
Download or read book Mission in Marginal Places The Theory written by Michael Pears and published by Authentic Media Inc. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first book in the series presents a thought-provoking foundation for contemporary mission. Drawing on key theological, missiological and social scientific ideas it discusses the fundamentals that provide a basis for place dependent, reflective praxis amongst people occupying social margins. This fascinating work re-energises debate around questions of why and how mission in marginal places should be planned and implemented.
Download or read book Voices from the Borderland written by Chris Shannahan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban theology affirms the importance of context - notably the place of the city - in theological reflection. However, it has often been confined to particular contexts or theological camps and thus failed to engage with the fluidity of contemporary urban societies. 'Voices from the Borderland' presents an overview of urban theology, arguing that the twenty-first century demands a dialogical model of theology that enacts progressive change. The volume draws on studies of the multicultural and multi-faith British urban experience and situates these within the wider international context. The works of influential theologians in the field are examined and the dialogue between theology, globalisation, post-colonialism, postmodernism and "post-religious" urban culture critically explored. The volume is unique in bringing together urban liberation theology, urban black theology, reformist urban theology, globalisation urban theology, and post-religious urban theology.
Download or read book Transforming Exclusion written by Hannah Bacon and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-06-23 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transforming Exclusion is concerned with the interface between the study of religion & theology and issues surrounding exclusion. Religious beliefs can be important in shaping attitudes that can lead to the exploitation or marginalization of both humans and non-humans. At the same time, religious beliefs and practices have much to offer in transforming the world, creating a more equitable place for all who occupy it. At other times, the voices of members of religious communities are suppressed and marginalized by other more dominant religious or secular individuals or communities. This book addresses all of these aspects of social exclusion and aims to demonstrate that the study of theology and religion, in addressing religious communities and society more widely, have important contributions to make in creating a more just world. The issue of exclusion is engaged with from a range of different perspectives by scholars involved in fieldwork with religious communities, systematic, contextual and practical theologians, and practitioners involved in the preparation of individuals and groups for a range of ministries and professions.
Download or read book Mediating Institutions written by Malcolm Torry and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-06 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original book studies a wide variety of mediating institutions, both organizational and non-organizational, in workplaces, residential areas, and in wider society. Focusing upon institutions in the Thames Gateway and with case studies across south-east London, Europe and the USA, Meditating Institutions highlights the importance of understanding, creating and maintaining these organizations that facilitate relationships between religious institutions and others within society. Discussing their structures and activities, the author asserts that good relationships between religious institutions and other groups in our society are essential for a cohesive and peaceful society.
Download or read book Erotic Faith written by Mari Kim and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2022-03-24 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thought of contemporary North American theologian and ethicist Wendy Farley is an unflinching clarion call to justice and compassion. Farley invites us to discover ways of embodying the deep compassion capable of resisting pernicious distortions and traumatizing injustices that harm and dehumanize us all. This volume of essays embodies her invitation to awaken as beloved community. And when we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of struggle and despair, Farley reminds us that the powerful longing of hope, at times against all evidence, refuses to give up on seeking justice and wholeness. Compassionate justice, radical hospitality, creative liberation, and deep listening emerge as more than ethical values for Farley; they are expressions of erotic faith, a praxis of faithfulness born of divine desire. These writings explore transformative perspectives and practices that have the capacity to help us recover and author our identity as the “god-bearers” we are. Erotic faith embodies the love-seeking persistence of divine faithfulness necessary to transform us from within; it meets the truth of human harm, vulnerability, and suffering by offering a complex, struggling, unscripted creativity capable of remaking us, and our world, until the beloved community is whole.
Download or read book Postcolonial Politics and Theology written by Kwok Pui-lan and published by Presbyterian Publishing Corp. This book was released on 2021-12-07 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Postcolonial Politics and Theology seeks to reform and reimagine the field of political theology—uprooting it from the colonial soil—using the comparative lenses of postcolonial politics and theology to bring attention to the realities of the Global South. Kwok Pui-lan traces the history of the political impacts of Western theological development, especially developments in the U.S. context, and the need to shift these interlocking fields toward non-Western traditions in theory and practice. A special focus of the book is on the changing sociopolitical realities of American Empire and Sino-American competition, illustrated in Donald Trump's slogan of "Make America Great Again" and Xi Jinping’s hope for a “China Dream.” The shifting of U.S. and Asian relationships highlights the need to move our theological and political categories away from a vision of strongman domination and toward a postmodern, postcolonial, and transnational world, especially exemplified in the Asia Pacific context. Throughout, Kwok overturns the idea of centering one cultural framework and marginalizing others in favor of living into a multiplicity of deeply contextual theologies. She explores how these theologies are being developed in global, postcolonial contexts, through struggles for democracy and civil disobedience in Hong Kong, by efforts to reclaim selfhood and sexual identity from exploitative colonial desire, through the work of interreligious solidarity and peacebuilding, and in the practice of earth care in the face of ecological crisis.
Download or read book Postsecular Cities written by Justin Beaumont and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-06-16 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reflects the wide-spread belief that the twenty-first century is evolving in a significantly different way to the twentieth, which witnessed the advance of human rationality and technological progress, including urbanisation, and called into question the public and cultural significance of religion. In this century, by contrast, religion, faith communities and spiritual values have returned to the centre of public life, especially public policy, governance, and social identity. Rapidly diversifying urban locations are the best places to witness the emergence of new spaces in which religions and spiritual traditions are creating both new alliances but also bifurcations with secular sectors. Postsecular Cities examines how the built environment reflects these trends. Recognizing that the 'turn to the postsecular' is a contested and multifaceted trend, the authors offer a vigorous, open but structured dialogue between theory and practice, but even more excitingly, between the disciplines of human geography and theology. Both disciplines reflect on this powerful but enigmatic force shaping our urban humanity. This unique volume offers the first insight into these interdisciplinary and challenging debates.
Download or read book Theology for Changing Times written by Christopher R. Baker and published by SCM Press. This book was released on 2018-09-30 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From wealth creation to wealth distribution and social ethics, from urban mission to religious studies and psychology the work of John Atherton was breathtaking in scope and variety. Unifying all of his work however, was a concern with engaging the work of theology with wider society.With contributions from some of the leading lights in public theology today, this book offers not only an appreciation of John Atherton's work within a prodigiously large array of disciplines, but also an attempt to ask 'what next', taking his work forward and considering where the future of public theology might lie. John Atherton's last published article is also reproduced.
