Jonathan R. Wilson – författare

This book describes several aspects of contemporary culture that create both opportunities and threats to Christian mission. It offers insights and practices that the church today must embrace in order to live faithfully and witness effectively to the gospel.Following a presentation of the church''s history in relation to Western culture, several chapters draw upon specific suggestions in Alasdair MacIntyre''s After Virtue--that we live in a fragmented rather than a pluralistic world; how the church has compromised its faithfulness by accommodating the mainstream of morality; implications stemming from the collapse of "the Enlightenment project"; and the need for a "new monasticism" together with forms the life of the church must take to sustain a faithful witness in contemporary culture.Jonathan R. Wilson is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, and the author of Theology as Cultural Critique.

A revised edition of one of the key texts of the new monastic movement, emphasising a community-centred virtue ethics as an antidote to modernist individualism.The first edition of 'Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World' became one of the founding and guiding texts for new monastic communities. In this revised edition, Jonathan Wilson focuses more directly on lessons for these communities from Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. In the midst of the unsettling cultural shifts from modernity to postmodernity, a new monastic movement is arising that strives to be a faithful witness to the gospel. These new monastic communities seek to participate in Christ's life in the world and bear witness by learning to live intentionally as the church in Western culture. This movement is about finding the church's center in Christ in the midst of a fragmented world, overcoming the failure of the Enlightenment project and our complicity with it, resisting the temptation to Nietzschean power, and building communities of disciples. This new edition is greatly enlarged from the original volume. It includes responses to critics of the new monasticism such as D. A. Carson, an entirely new chapter on the Nietzschean temptation, an afterword on properly understanding the new monastic movement, the dangers it faces, and the work yet to be done, as well as an appendix on the supposed post-modern agenda of Jonathan Wilson and Brian McLaren. For those striving to understand the path the church should take in this fragmented world, this book is essential reading.

God So Loved the World covers the usual ground of contemporary evangelical and non-evangelical Christologies, but it does so in a unique way. Rather than simply discussing doctrine, Jonathan Wilson has incorporated stories, images, and practices from the New Testament that bring out the relevance of an orthodox Christology for the church and for individual believers. For Wilson, Christology is central to the gospel message. With both his students and contemporary culture in mind, Wilson has developed a postmodern primer that creatively uses the images of Christ's work to invite "theological reflection that connects believing with living." As such, it is a "Christology for disciples," written in a jargon-free manner that effectively communicates to both an academic audience and thoughtful seekers. The book's novel approach and accessible style make it ideal for professors, students, educated laypeople, and spiritual seekers who are looking for an orthodox approach to Christology that also seeks to understand more fully the relevance of Christ in our postmodern world.

A distinguished evangelical theologian offers an original and constructive work on the doctrine of creation and its practical implications for the life of the church.

The Civic Imagination: Why Democracy Needs Art makes a powerful case that democracy depends on more than elections, laws, and institutions. It also requires the human capacities that art helps cultivate: empathy, imagination, critical thinking, and the ability to recognize the dignity of others. Drawing on history, political science, education, psychology, and cultural studies, Jonathan R. Wilson shows how music, literature, theater, visual art, dance, architecture, and storytelling have long shaped civic life and democratic change. From protest songs and murals to museums and community theater, art has helped preserve memory, challenge injustice, and widen public dialogue. The book explores how artistic expression has supported abolition, labor reform, women's suffrage, civil rights, and contemporary social movements, while also explaining why authoritarian regimes so often censor artists and fear creative freedom. At a time when arts education and public investment in culture are under pressure, this book argues that art is not a luxury. It is democratic infrastructure, essential to a society that hopes to remain open, pluralistic, and resilient.

For about the last fifteen years of his life, Thomas A. Langford pondered how grace is central to Christian theology. This book records his reflections and provides numerous gems of mature Christian insight. From beginning to end, the book is christologically focused. Grace is not something that God gives us; rather, it is the way God gives us himself. Grace is a person--God present to human beings. Grace is not a gift but rather a giver. Grace is Jesus Christ. The central contribution of this work is its personalization of grace, its sharp focus on God present in Jesus Christ. Because its focus on grace gives the reader such a clear and thematically developed entry point, this work is a great introduction to theology and the life of the church, the kind that pastors and parishioners would certainly benefit from confronting.

The first edition of Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World became one of the founding and guiding texts for new monastic communities. In this revised edition, Jonathan Wilson focuses more directly on lessons for these communities from Alasdair MacIntyre''s After Virtue. In the midst of the unsettling cultural shifts from modernity to postmodernity, a new monastic movement is arising that strives to be a faithful witness to the gospel. These new monastic communities seek to participate in Christ''s life in the world and bear witness by learning to live intentionally as the church in Western culture. This movement is about finding the church''s center in Christ in the midst of a fragmented world, overcoming the failure of the Enlightenment project and our complicity with it, resisting the temptation to Nietzschean power, and building communities of disciples. This new edition is greatly enlarged from the original volume. It includes responses to critics of the new monasticism such as D. A. Carson, an entirely new chapter on the Nietzschean temptation, an afterword on properly understanding the new monastic movement, the dangers it faces, and the work yet to be done, as well as an appendix on the supposed post-modern agenda of Jonathan Wilson and Brian McLaren. For those striving to understand the path the church should take in this fragmented world, this book is essential reading.

Virtues are in, but the work of Bill Bennett and others says little about specifically Christian virtues. Jonathan Wilson now recounts the recent rise of virtue ethics and provides a compelling Christian account and justification of them. Wilson engages such key figures as Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas. Focusing especially on the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, he not only sets forth a closely reasoned intellectual argument but suggests how an embrace of virtue ethics might change the nitty-gritty practice of the church's education, worship, and hospitality. Accessible, informed, and faithful, 'Gospel Virtues' is important reading for all who care about issues of character and community.