Vital Christianity

"The book is really a protest, highlighting one aspect of the integrated Christian life: that of justice, a pressingly relevant topic at the present time...This book is a worthy contribution to an on-going debate" ANVIL Vol.25 No.2 2008 -- John Cockerton "There is no doubt that the church in the US faces a deep crisis, both internally and in missional dimension. Much of that crisis is the misfortune of separating 'spirituality' from "social witness," and dividing the church into 'parties.' As a consequence, much spirituality among us is self-indulgent and much social witness becomes strident self-assertion. This book is a serious effort to put back together what noone should have rent asunder. When such a recovery occurs, both spirituality and social witness are drawn more closely to the Gospel and to the Lord who summons the faithful." Walter Brueggemann Columbia Theological Seminary * Blurb from reviewer * There is wide recognition today that we need ways of combatting individualism in our conceptions of church, discipleship, spirituality; that we need spiritual formation for creatures who are animated bodies, not embodied souls; that we need to heal the rift between churches pursuing social justice and churches pursuing individual salvation. Readers who have felt any of all of these needs will find rich resources in this book. The essays are of uniformly high quality: engagingly written, richly biblical, and theologically and pastorally astute. Nancey Murphy Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Seminary, and author of /Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?/ -- Nancy Murphy * Blurb from reviewer * "This volume provides new hope and energy for those who have become weary of the scandalous twentieth century dichotomy of spirituality and social justice. Here there is much food for the single journey of alerting the world to God's reign." --Ronald J.R. Mathies, Executive Director Emeritus, Mennonite Central Committee -- Ronald J.R. Mathies * Blurb from reviewer * "Bishop Willimon and Professor Weaver-Zercher here present the real work of true churches--those that do not pit spirit against body, or spirituality against social justice. This remarkable collection of essays shows how, behind the TV cameras and beyond the front pages, Derrida and Zizek are moved by Jesus and Paul, eucharist and sabbath-keeping can form disciples, and vital spirituality is afoot from soup kitchens in Pennsylvania to housing-poor territories of the Mississippi Delta." -- Rodney Clapp, author of *Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Angels* -- Rodney Clapp * Blurb from reviewer *

The Reverend Dr. WILLIAM WILLIMON is Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church and the author of fifty books, including Worship is Pastoral Care. DAVID WEAVER-ZERCHER is Associate Professor of Religious History at Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Amish in the American Imagination and the editor of Minding the Church: Scholarship in the Anabaptist Tradition.