Welcome to our book review site www.go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Beyond Maintenance to Mission
Here, in a newly revised edition, is a powerful and pertinent guide for congregations wanting to move away from 'maintenance thinking' to powerful, creative engagement with the world. Visionary yet practical, Nessan's influential book makes a persuasive case for the centrality of mission in the life of the church. Nessan's model of mission-driven leadership is strongly centered on the community of faith's worship and draws unique connections between the worship life of a congregation and every aspect of the church's ministry. Around the twin foci of congregational identity and mission, the chapters in this dynamic book provide solid theological and radical direction on the themes of worship, education, fellowship, stewardship, evangelism, global connections, and social ministry. Equally pertinent to seminary classroom and parish life, the new edition highlights worship's centrality, adds a new chapter on prayer and spiritual practices in this framework, significantly revises the treatments of fellowship and evangelism, and adds a full set of materials designed for congregational visioning and planning.
The Integrity of the Body of Christ
For religious communities to have integrity and credibility they must flourish as places of love and respect. Every aspect of church life is defined and protected by essential boundaries: boundaries around space, time, thought, speech, will, emotion, and behavior--both for clergy and church members. Lack of awareness and attention to boundary keeping diminishes the integrity of the church and harms its mission, whereas insight and vigilance about best practices lend freedom and energy to the calling of the church to care for others and to reach out to the world. In a flourishing Christian community, a wide array of boundaries must be recognized, celebrated, and navigated--from the boundaries...
Shalom Church
Craig Nessan's important new work retrieves biblical metaphors of the body of Christ and, following Dietrich Bonhoeffer, sees church today as "Christ existing as community." To theological probing Nessan then adds contextual analysis and describes the four chief imperatives that mark Christ's presence in the world today: peacemaking, justice-making, care for creation, and engagement with the other. He then unfolds the real-life implications of this paradigm of Christian community for the local church structure, strategies for partnering, public witness, and interreligious engagement.
Free in Deed
Free in Deed serves as a primer in Lutheran ethics for faith and the church as the body of Christ. It captures the fruit of Craig L. Nessan's teaching of ethics and his research and reflection on Christian ethical existence over his entire career. The heart of Lutheran ethics, Nessan claims, involves serving neighbors. When Christ sets us "free indeed" (John 8:36), we are set free to serve others "in deed." Ethics involves intentional and disciplined reflection, together in community, on the choices we must make in living out our lives in the world. While the focus on loving the neighbor is not unique to Lutheran ethics, the author contends in this book that it is the most distinctive featur...
Lutheran Theology and Secular Law
This collection brings together lawyers and theologians in the U.S. and Europe to reflect on Lutheran understandings of the political use of the law by secular governments. The book furthers the intellectual conversation about how Lutheran insights can be used to develop jurisprudence and specific solutions to legal issues in which there is strong conflict. It presents the basic theological and interpretive assumptions of the Lutheran tradition as they may inform the creation of legislation and judicial interpretation at local, national and international levels. The authors explore Luther’s conception of the foundations of modern secular law and understanding of vocation. The work discusses the application of Lutheran theological principles to contemporary issues such as the war on terror, native land rights, property law, family law, church and state, medical experimentation, and the criminal law of rape, providing ethical insights for lawyers and lawmakers.
Hermeneutical Theology and the Imperative of Public Ethics
"Hermeneutical Theology and the Imperative of Public Ethics is a groundbreaking attempt to present constructive missional theology in an integrative and interdisciplinary framework as it provocatively utilizes and contextualizes Reformation theology and hermeneutics concerning ethical theology embedded within the wider horizon of World Christianity. Mission as constructive theology is explored and refined in an hermeneutical and interdisciplinary fashion, underlying a new horizon of postcolonial theology and mission in light of God's act of speech. Missional church founded up God's grace of justification and Christ's diakonia of reconciliation becomes ethically oriented public church as it is engaged in mutireligious diversity of people's lives and lifeworld in the postcolonial context of World Christianity. "
Getting Ready for the New Life
Lutheran Voices answers the call for Lutheran-specific materials for pastors and lay leaders that they can share with their congregations about Lutheran theology, what it means to be Lutheran, and how the Lutheran faith can enrich and guide their congregational and personal lives. Grounded in Lutheran theology and practice, the books cover a wide range of subjects and themes of interest to members of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and the wider Christian community. For more information on this new series, visit the website: http: //www.lutheranvoices.org. Illness is great teacher, says the author. More convincing than an athlete's achievements, illness lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that we are intensely human. Drawing on the resources of years of pastoral experience and reflecting on key Scriptural texts, Bansemer provides comfort while encouraging honest reflection. The book consists of fifteen devotional readings followed by Scriptural texts, prayers, and reflection questions, Intended for use by those facing suffering and loss, those who provide them with comfort and care, and groups wanting to explore and share their experiences.
"The Air I Breathe is Wartburg Air"
The ministry of William H. Weiblen at Wartburg Theological Seminary bridges the generations from the time of J. Michael Reu and the second generation of Fritschels to the present time of celebration at the seminary's sesquicentennial. This book captures the wisdom of Dr. Weiblen as he reflects on the missionary history of the seminary and the course of his own life. 'The Air I Breathe Is Wartburg Air' includes intimate conversations with Bill Weiblen and offers a substantial collection of his theological writings, addresses, and sermons.
Redeeming the Gospel
For many people today, the Christian gospel as traditionally articulated has become irrelevant and meaningless, making it necessary to rethink our understanding of the gospel. Redeeming the Gospel examines the central themes traditionally associated with Lutheran theology, including especially law and gospel, the work of Christ, and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, in order to deconstruct and reconstruct our understanding of the gospel so that it may be proclaimed in a way that responds to the needs and concerns of our world today.
The Vitality of Liberation Theology
The Vitality of Liberation Theology argues for the ongoing necessity of a liberating theology in a world of endemic poverty and economic globalization. Although some have declared liberation theology's demise, or even its death, Nessan articulates the imperative and logic of it for a new generation. Latin American liberation theology burst forth as the most original and compelling theological movement from the developing world in the modern period. The story of the emergence and proliferation of liberation theology, as well as the opposition to this movement both within and without Latin America, is one of the most significant and lasting developments in Christianity since the last third of ...
