Download or read book Who s Afraid of Relativism The Church and Postmodern Culture written by James K. A. Smith and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following his successful Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? leading Christian philosopher James K. A. Smith introduces the philosophical sources behind postliberal theology. Offering a provocative analysis of relativism, Smith provides an introduction to the key voices of pragmatism: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Richard Rorty, and Robert Brandom. Many Christians view relativism as the antithesis of absolute truth and take it to be the antithesis of the gospel. Smith argues that this reaction is a symptom of a deeper theological problem: an inability to honor the contingency and dependence of our creaturehood. Appreciating our created finitude as the condition under which we know (and were made to know) should compel us to appreciate the contingency of our knowledge without sliding into arbitrariness. Saying "It depends" is not the equivalent of saying "It's not true" or "I don't know." It is simply to recognize the conditions of our knowledge as finite, created, social beings. Pragmatism, says Smith, helps us recover a fundamental Christian appreciation of the contingency of creaturehood. This addition to an acclaimed series engages key thinkers in modern philosophy with a view to ministry and addresses the challenge of relativism in a creative, original way.
Download or read book Who s Afraid of Relativism written by James K. A. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading Christian philosopher introduces the philosophical sources behind contemporary theology, offering a fresh analysis of relativism and pragmatism.
Download or read book GloboChrist written by Carl Raschke and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2008-08 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading postmodern thinker discusses the church's need to reconsider the Great Commission in light of globalization and the spread of technology with specific strategies for meeting current challenges.
Download or read book Who s Afraid of Relativism written by James K. A. Smith and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following his successful Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? leading Christian philosopher James K. A. Smith introduces the philosophical sources behind postliberal theology. Offering a provocative analysis of relativism, Smith provides an introduction to the key voices of pragmatism: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Richard Rorty, and Robert Brandom. Many Christians view relativism as the antithesis of absolute truth and take it to be the antithesis of the gospel. Smith argues that this reaction is a symptom of a deeper theological problem: an inability to honor the contingency and dependence of our creaturehood. Appreciating our created finitude as the condition under which we know (and were made to know) should compel us to appreciate the contingency of our knowledge without sliding into arbitrariness. Saying "It depends" is not the equivalent of saying "It's not true" or "I don't know." It is simply to recognize the conditions of our knowledge as finite, created, social beings. Pragmatism, says Smith, helps us recover a fundamental Christian appreciation of the contingency of creaturehood. This addition to an acclaimed series engages key thinkers in modern philosophy with a view to ministry and addresses the challenge of relativism in a creative, original way.
Download or read book Above All Earthly Pow rs written by David F. Wells and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2006-08 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this prophetic call to the evangelical church, Wells stresses that Christians need to confess Christ as the center in a society lacking a center, as the sovereign in a world seemingly ruled by chance, and as the one who can give meaning in a nihilistic culture.
Download or read book Who s Afraid of Postmodernism The Church and Postmodern Culture written by James K. A. Smith and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2006-04-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The philosophies of French thinkers Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault form the basis for postmodern thought and are seemingly at odds with the Christian faith. However, James K. A. Smith claims that their ideas have been misinterpreted and actually have a deep affinity with central Christian claims. Each chapter opens with an illustration from a recent movie and concludes with a case study considering recent developments in the church that have attempted to respond to the postmodern condition, such as the "emerging church" movement. These case studies provide a concrete picture of how postmodern ideas can influence the way Christians think and worship. This significant book, winner of a Christianity Today 2007 Book Award, avoids philosophical jargon and offers fuller explanation where needed. It is the first book in the Church and Postmodern Culture series, which provides practical applications for Christians engaged in ministry in a postmodern world.
Download or read book Who s Afraid of the Unmoved Mover written by Andrew I. Shepardson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are postmodern philosophy and Christian theology compatible? A surprising number of Christian philosophers and theologians think so. However, these same thinkers argue that postmodern insights entail the rejection of natural theology, the ability to discover knowledge about the existence and nature of God in the natural world. Postmodernism, they claim, shows that appealing to nature to demonstrate or infer the existence of God is foolish because these appeals rely on modernity’s outmoded grounds for knowledge. Moreover, natural theology and apologetics are often hindrances to authentic Christian faith. Notions like objectivity and rationality are forms of idolatry from which Christians should repent. This book carefully examines the nature of truth, rationality, general revelation, and evangelism to show that the postmodern objections fail and that Christians ought to lovingly and faithfully use natural theology and apologetics to defend and commend the Christian faith to a world in need of the knowledge of God.
Download or read book Jesus Christ for Today s World written by Jürgen Moltmann and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 1995-08-21 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: J rgen Moltmann formulates necessary questions about the significance of Jesus the Christ for persons today. He offers a compelling portrait of the earthly Jesus as the divine brother in our distress and suffering and points to the risen Christ as the warrant for the "future in which God will restore everything . . . and gather everything into his kingdom." Urging that acknowledgment of Christ and discipleship are two sides of the same coin, Moltmann contends that the question of Jesus Christ for today is not just an intellectual one. Moltmann takes fresh approaches to a number of crucial topics: Jesus and the kingdom of God, the passion of Christ and the pain of God, Jesus as brother of the tortured, and the resurrection of Christ as hope for the world, the cosmic Christ, Jesus in Jewish- Christian dialogue, the future of God, and others.
Download or read book Fieldwork in Theology The Church and Postmodern Culture written by Christian Scharen and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this addition to the acclaimed The Church and Postmodern Culture series, leading practical theologian Christian Scharen examines the relationship between theology and its social context. He engages with social theorist Pierre Bourdieu to offer helpful theoretical and theological grounding to those who want to reflect critically on the faith and practice of the church, particularly for those undertaking ministry internships or fieldwork assignments. As Scharen helps a wide array of readers to understand the social context of doing theology, he articulates a vision for the church's involvement with what God is doing in the world and provides concrete examples of churches living out God's mission.
Download or read book A Church Wide Enough for Everyone written by Steven H. Propp and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2018-02-03 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Schaeffer and Douglas West are best friends living in Oklahoma in 1963when they discover that they both sense a calling to become ministers in a mainline Christian denomination. But from seminary and their early years in ministry to their golden years looking back on what it takes to lead a congregation, a stimulating, sometimes puzzling, yet often inspirational world of theological controversies and congregational concerns would unfold for these two men of God. A Church Wide Enough for Everyone follows these two men on their journey to demonstrate the continuing relevance of the Christian faith in a postmodern world. After moving to Berkeley, California, to attend college and seminary, they have little time to ponder the vast social changes taking place before they immediately enter into intensive critical study of the Bible and Christian theology. And as Robert is then thrust into the ordained ministry with his wife, Faye, both men must in their own ways face the political, cultural, and ideological pressures of each passing decade, responding to challenges from both within the church and from outsiders. Are mainline churchesand Christian theologydead? Or might they be revitalized in the current century? A Church Wide Enough for Everyone and the inspired journeys of two ministers offers a window into how this revitalization and new understanding is possible.
Download or read book He Descended to the Dead written by Matthew Y. Emerson and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2019-12-24 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity Today Book Award The Gospel Coalition Book Award "I believe he descended to the dead." The descent of Jesus Christ to the dead has been a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith, as indicated by its inclusion in both the Apostles' and Athanasian Creeds. Falling between remembrance of Christ's death on Good Friday and of his resurrection on Easter Sunday, this affirmation has been a cause for Christian worship and reflection on Holy Saturday through the centuries. At the same time, the descent has been the subject of suspicion and scrutiny, perhaps especially from evangelicals, some of whom do not find support for it within Scripture and have even called for it to be excised from the creeds. Against this conflicted landscape, Matthew Emerson offers an exploration of the biblical, historical, theological, and practical implications of the descent. Led by the mystery and wonder of Holy Saturday, he encourages those who profess faith in Christ to consider the whole work of our Savior.
Download or read book Desiring the Kingdom Cultural Liturgies written by James K. A. Smith and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans--as Augustine noted--are "desiring agents," full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love. James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire in Desiring the Kingdom, the first book in what will be a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God. Ultimately, Smith seeks to re-vision education through the process and practice of worship. Students of philosophy, theology, worldview, and culture will welcome Desiring the Kingdom, as will those involved in ministry and other interested readers.
Download or read book What Would Jesus Deconstruct The Church and Postmodern Culture written by John D. Caputo and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This provocative addition to The Church and Postmodern Culture series offers a lively rereading of Charles Sheldon's In His Steps as a constructive way forward. John D. Caputo introduces the notion of why the church needs deconstruction, positively defines deconstruction's role in renewal, deconstructs idols of the church, and imagines the future of the church in addressing the practical implications of this for the church's life through liturgy, worship, preaching, and teaching. Students of philosophy, theology, religion, and ministry, as well as others interested in engaging postmodernism and the emerging church phenomenon, will welcome this provocative, non-technical work.
Download or read book Liturgy as a Way of Life written by Bruce Ellis Benson and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished philosopher examines the nature of liturgy and explores God's call to Christians to improvise as living works of art.
Download or read book How to Survive the Apocalypse written by Robert Joustra and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-20 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incisive insights into contemporary pop culture and its apocalyptic bent The world is going to hell. So begins this book, pointing to the prevalence of apocalypse — cataclysmic destruction and nightmarish end-of-the-world scenarios — in contemporary entertainment. In How to Survive the Apocalypse Robert Joustra and Alissa Wilkinson examine a number of popular stories — from the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica to the purging of innocence in Game of Thrones to the hordes of zombies in The Walking Dead — and argue that such apocalyptic stories reveal a lot about us here and now, about how we conceive of our life together, including some of our deepest tensions and anxieties. Besides analyzing the dsytopian shift in popular culture, Joustra and Wilkinson also suggest how Christians can live faithfully and with integrity in such a cultural context.
Download or read book The Gospel in the Dock written by Bryan M. Christman and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: C. S. Lewis famously penned the phrase “God in the Dock” and proposed that there was a “great divide” between ancient and modern humans, in that our ancestors would have rightly seen themselves “in the dock” before God, while we moderns have placed God there before us. But what if what God's love most desires for us, the gospel or “good news” of the only way of life for humanity, has been “in the dock” before us from the time of Adam and Eve? And what if it is also the case that the gospel is often “in the dock” as though it is not good—even for the church? This book builds upon and expands the “life and death” stakes Lewis proposed by demonstrating that the gospel way of faith itself has been placed in the dock by us and in many ways ruined our relationships with God, with our own selves, with one another, and even with the natural world itself which we are meant to “steward” for its good. In these pages the reader will discover why the gospel that requires faith is good news, but why we so tragically default to our divisive and self-destructive ways.
Download or read book Who is Afraid of Postmodernism written by Stephan Erp and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2005 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To the authors of this book, today's world is "postmodern". They see a fragmented world. It seems to have become implausible to find a common point of view, a unity in purpose or truth. Postmodernity challenges Christian faith, because it appears to go against the very grain of a sense of tradition, communion, and commitment. On the eve of his election pope Benedict XVI warned against the "dictatorship of relativism". Would it still be possible to find genuine Christian ways to live in postmodern times? This collection of essays by a group of Dutch theologians will stimulate the imagination of anyone who reads them.
