James Clarke – serie

A new translation of Jacques Ellul's landmark theological contribution, including the second volume in English for the first time.In To Will and To Do, twentieth-century French thinker Jacques Ellul presented his landmark theological contribution, yet the full text has never before been available in English. Incorporating recent insights on Ellul, and benefitting from the discovery of a lost manuscript, this new publication remedies this, combining a fresh translation of Volume One with a first English translation of Volume Two. Together, the two volumes constitute the first part of Ellul's planned four-part treatment of Christian ethics. In Volume One, Ellul examines the origin of the problem of Good and Evil, surveys the contemporary morality of Western society, and provocatively sketches the paradox of an impossible and yet necessary Christian ethics. In Volume Two, he carries this discussion forward, outlining the characteristics and conditions of Christian ethics, and analysing the relationship between ethics, the legal texts of the Bible, and dogmatic theology. He concludes by reimagining the theological use of the 'analogy of faith' for scriptural interpretation. Throughout, Ellul remains in dialogue with Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Ricoeur and others, helping to cement To Will and To Do as a major intervention in twentieth-century theological ethics.

The definitive biography of Archbishop Söderblom, focussing on his ecumenical activity.Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931), was not only a profoundly influential figure in Swedish church history, but also one of the great pioneers of the modern ecumenical movement. Elected Archbishop of Uppsala, the head of the Lutheran church in Sweden, in 1914, he was a ceaseless advocate for peace during the first world war. His collaboration with George Bell laid the foundations for intercommunion between the Church of Sweden and the Church of England. Finally, in the year before he died, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.Despite this, until this landmark biography he was largely neglected by historians, the subject of only a few partial studies. In Nathan Söderblom: His Life and Work, Bengt Sundkler corrects this, with new analysis of Söderblom's meticulously preserved correspondence and interviews with his family, friends and former students. The resulting image is of a man deeply committed to his leadership of ecumenical projects, most significantly his movement of 'Life and Work', but also of a complex and fascinating personality.

An essay on the theology of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, interpreting them as symbolic events that represent the renewing action of God.Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are means of grace, representing spiritual realities by whose observance the Church and its members celebrate the life they are given in Christ.Upon this belief Professor Arndt examines the meaning of “sacramental theology” particularly in its relation to the whole of the Gospel of Christ. He believes that the “Font” and “Table” are symbolic events representing God’s renewing action, and through them this “Community of faith and people of God becomes concrete in historical actuality”.He does not claim that this essay provides a complete sacramental theology. He is primarily concerned with securing a perspective of sacramental practice in the hope of assisting in a “reconstruction of sacramental teaching, a more responsible ordering of practice and a more understanding participation in the sacraments of the gospel”.

A leading British sinologist explains traditional Chinese monarchy, religion, worship, ritual, sacrifices, customs, and all aspects of early Chinese culture.This book is a close examination of Chinese traditions concerning the ancient Chinese institution known as the Ming T'ang, rendered in the title as the "Hall of Light", and the sacrificial rituals connected with it. Soothill does not offer a mere summary of the Chinese accounts of the Ming T'ang but an interpretation of those in the light of comparative anthropology and of the history of ancient astronomy.This is the culmination of the life-long study and research on China of a leading British sinologist, The Hall of Light illuminates traditional Chinese ideas about monarchy, religion, worship, ritual, sacrifices, customs, and all aspects of early Chinese culture, which have influenced the thought and behaviour of the Chinese for well over two millennia. This is a study that will be of value to sinologues, anthropologists, and students of comparative astronomy and religion, as well as anyone with an interest in Chinese tradition and thought.

Two essays by distinguished Reformed scholars that present original interpretations of the central meaning of the Lord's Supper.In these two essays two distinguished Reformed scholars accept the challenge of understanding and explaining the central meaning of the Lord's Supper.How did primitive Christianity understand this event? What relationship was Christ attempting to establish with mankind? Did He wish to establish a link other than the one of preaching His Word? What is the relationship of Word and Sacrament? These and other vital issues for the churches of the Reformation tradition are addressed.In the first essay, Oscar Cullmann proposes to investigate the true meaning of the Lord's Supper with which primitive Christianity invested the cultic act of the sacred meal, as it was practised in the communities of the first century. He examines the Breaking of Bread and the Resurrection Appearances and draws a connection between the Lord's Supper and the Death of Christ, and successfully combines the two in his conclusion.The second essay, by F. J. Leenhardt, provides an answer to the question: What relationship did Christ wish to establish with man? Or more precisely, since Christ wished His disciples to proclaim His Gospel, He established a link which is the preaching of His Word: "He that hears you, hears me." The question is therefore whether or not He wished to establish, by another means than the spoken Word, a further relationship with man.Both essays present new and original insights into the central meaning of the Lord's Supper.

An account of different views of church history propagated by English writers during the Reformation, including William Tyndale, John Bale and John Foxe.Glanmor Williams presents different views of Church History propagated by English writers during the Reformation. He introduces this topic by exploring the continental background, including Luther’s arguments, the opponents and Luther’s influence on important English authors of the sixteenth century.Almost as soon as Luther came to communicate his sensibilities to others he began to realise that defenders of orthodoxy would denounce them as an intolerably presumptuous threat on the part of a single misguided monk to fifteen hundred years of established authority in the Church. Quite apart from the counter-arguments such as those raised by the clerical controversialist, Eck, there was the obvious and very serious objection against criticism of the Church, voiced by the Emperor Charles V: “For it is certain”, he protested, “that a single monk must err if he stands against the opinion of all Christendom. Otherwise Christendom itself would have erred for more than a thousand years.”On October 31 1517, the then obscure friar-professor, Martin Luther, pinned up his ninety-five arguments on the church door at Wittenberg. He was, unknown to himself, proclaiming doctrines which were to find an echo in all corners of Europe in a remarkably short space of time. Among those who were most gladly to receive and propagate the Lutheran message was a young Englishman, William Tyndale, the outstanding English reformer of the first generation, and a major figure among English reformers of any generation.In this fascinating book Williams also looks at the great impact of John Bale and John Foxe.

A key theological work in the doctrine of the Ascension that deals with the origin and significance of the Apostles’ Creed.This Bampton Lecture series of 1958 provides an illuminating exposition on the Ascension, which as J.G. Davies asserts, has been a greatly neglected article of the creed.Davies thoroughly examines the Biblical material before following the history of the doctrine and its development from the period of the ante-Nicean Church, through the Carolingian Renaissance to the reforming monastic movements of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He also gives a systematic commentary on the Ascension doctrine as it may reasonably be held and taught today.This is an important theological work in the doctrine of the Ascension that deals with the origin and significance of the Apostles Creed.

A timely and fascinating examination of the decline in religious faith and rise of secular thought in western intellectual society.Spirituality is a difficult subject in the modern world. Everywhere, from popular media to the university, from the bookshelf to the dinner table, religions are derided or marginalised and public figures, such as Richard Dawkins, set upon anyone who admits to a belief in God.It seems that science and religion are fundamentally at odds and that a mutual respect is unacceptable to either in their parallel pursuit of ‘truth’. Yet the majority of Enlightenment authors engaged with both science and spirituality and did not lose their faith. Today we tend to see these authors as not having applied full scientific rigour to their religious beliefs, but are we correct in dismissing this aspect of their lives so easily?In Secularism, Mike King examines the elements of religion, philosophy and science which have contributed to an almost total disavowal of spirituality by contemporary western intellectuals. He engages with a wide range of thinkers, including Pythagoras, Marx, Spinoza, Darwin and Nietzsche, and incorporates detailed studies of a variety of ‘spiritual’ leaders, some of whom readers are unlikely to have considered in this way before, to uncover why the western world no longer has any interest in devotion or accords it any respect.

An authoritative study of the development of English classical scholarship from 1500 to 1950, concentrating on the three giants: Bentley, Porson, and Housman.Professor C.O. Brink's English Classical Scholarship is the first sustained treatment since the early years of this century of the historical development of English classical scholarship. Brink shows the effect of the Italian Renaissance on nascent English scholarship and examines the contribution made by 17th century scholars such as Bishop Pearson and Thomas Gataker. He deals at length with the life of Richard Bentley, his troubled careers master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and above all the immense advances he made in classical studies, which were in turn developed by Richard Porson. He also shows how, paradoxically, in the Victorian era, while a classical education was seen as the key to advancement, classical scholarship almost wholly stagnated. Although the tradition of Bentley and Porson all but disappeared in England, it was nurtured by the great German scholars of the nineteenth century. It was only with the work of A. E. Housman that the tradition of the greatest classical scholars returned to its native land and Professor Brink shows how it began again to make a contribution to the 'European fund'.

An anthropological approach to the historical personage of Jesus, offering an intriguing and fruitful alternative to traditional historiographic methods.The aim of historical Jesus research is to identify the authentic material from which the historical figure as a social type underneath the overlay is constructed. Pieter Craffert's anthropological historiography offers an alternative framework for dealing with Jesus of Nazareth as a social personage fully embedded in a first-century Mediterranean worldview and the Gospels as cultural artefacts related to this figure. This cross-cultural model represents a religious pattern that refers to a family of features for describing those religious entrepreneurs who, based on regular Altered State of Consciousness experiences, perform a specific set of social functions in their communities.

A study of the biblical account of Jesus's conception, emphasising the context of social conceptions of honour and shame then prevalent.When Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit' (1:18). We are made to assume that Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant, but that he does not know that she is with child from the Holy Spirit. Joseph must decide what he will do with Mary. The discussion of this verse generally focuses on two questions. First, did Joseph suspect Mary of adultery? Second, if he did suspect Mary of adultery, what were his options? If Joseph reveals that Mary is pregnant she will be killed. If Joseph conceals Mary's pregnancy, he will be opposing the law of the Lord. What is a 'righteous' man to do? Marohl's study of honor killings, be they modern or ancient, opens up new avenues of interpretation for "The Gospel of Matthew's" infancy narrative. It is a pattern that is to be replicated in the lives of the Jesus followers.

Selected volumes of the catalogue of Ethiopic manuscripts digitised by the Ethiopic Manuscript Imaging Project, with full descriptions of contents and illuminations.The series Ethiopic Manuscripts, Texts, and Studies offers, in the first place, catalogues of the Ethiopic Manuscript Imaging Project, whose purpose it is to digitize and catalogue collections of Ethiopic manuscripts in North America and around the world. Beyond this, though, the series offers a venue for monographs, revised dissertations, and texts that explore the rich historical, literary, and artistic traditions of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.From the Series Foreword

An examination of eschatological themes in the Moltmann treatment of the Book of Revelation, constructively combining systematic theology and biblical studies.Leaning into the Future seeks to explore what it may mean to believe in the Kingship of God and wait for his Kingdom by considering the fundamental role the Kingdom of God plays in the theology of Jürgen Moltmann and in the book of Revelation. Part one is devoted to how Moltmann understands The Kingdom of God as the fundamental symbol of hope for humanity, and how he sees the presence of God's reign and kingdom in history as hidden and paradoxical. Part two turns to the way the Book of Revelation uses royal and other political language in its portrait of the future and God's presence in history. In this second part, the book also seeks to explore how Moltmann and the Apocalypse may mutually inform each other, how Moltmann may help us read this biblical book today, and how it in turn may overcome some of the weaknesses in Moltmann's proposal.

A theological exploration of human nature engaging with modernist and postmodernist thought, and emphasising the reality and significance of our physical being.Radical embodiment' refers to an epistemology and anthropology fundamentally rooted in our bodies as always in correlation with our natural and social environments. All human rationality, meaning, and value arise not only instrumentally but also substantively from this embodiment in the world. Radical embodiment reacts against Enlightenment mind-body dualism, as well as its monistic offshoots, including the physicalism that reduces everything to component matter/energy at the expense of subjectivity and meaning. It also rejects certain forms of postmodernism that reinscribe modern dualisms. David H. Nikkel develops and explores this perspective of 'radical embodiment' by examining varieties of modern and postmodern theology, and the nature and role of tradition - in terms of linguistic and non-linguistic experience, the religion and science dialogue on the nature of consciousness, and the immanent and transcendent aspects of God.

A new interpretation of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, revealing new insights into the genre, cultural context and theology of this under-appreciated document.The mid-second-century apocryphal infancy gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, which deals with the childhood of Jesus from age five to age twelve, has attained only limited interest from scholars. Much research into the story has also been seriously misguided - especially study of the story's origin, character, and setting. This book gives a fresh interpretation of the infancy gospel, not least by applying a variety of new approaches, including orality studies, narrative studies, gender studies, and social-scientific approaches. The book comes to a number of radically new conclusions: The Gospel of Thomas is dependent on oral storytelling and has far more narrative qualities than has been previously assumed. The narrative world depicted in the gospel is that of middle-class Christianity, with the social and cultural ideas and values characteristic of such a milieu. The gospel's theology is not heretical - as has often been claimed - but mirrors mainstream thinking rooted in biblical tradition, particularly in the Johannine and Lukan traditions. Jesus is portrayed as a divine figure but also as a true-to-life child of late antiquity. The audience for the Gospel of Thomas is likely to have come from the rural population of early Christianity, a milieu that has received little attention. A main audience for the story was children among early Christians, making this - at least within Christianity - the oldest-known children's tale. The book provides a Greek text and a translation, and several appendixes on the story, along with other early Christian infancy material.

A theological discourse on the displacement of indigenous peoples, encouraging theological dialogue open to the voices and experience of the dispossessed.Christianity is never just about beliefs, but habits and practices - for better or worse. Theology always reflects the social location of the theologian - including her privileges and prejudices - all the time working with a particular, often undisclosed, notion of what is normal. Therefore, theology is never 'neutral' - it defends particular constructions of reality, and it promotes certain interests.'Following Jesus in Invaded Space' asks what - and whose - interests theology protects when it is part of a community that invaded the land of indigenous peoples. Developing a theological method and position that self-consciously acknowledges the church's role in occupying Aboriginal land in Australia, it dares to speak of God, church, and justice in the context of past history and continuing dispossession. Hence, a 'Second People's theology' emerges through constant and careful attention to experiences of invasion and dislocation brought into dialogue with the theological landscape or tradition of the church.Being a descendant of some of the first English invaders in Australia and a witness to the continuing inadequate recognition of the Church's past mistakes in this country, theologian Chris Budden felt a strong need to write this book. Leaving the past behind does not mean ignoring it, and an acknowledgement of mistakes is a prerequisite to any fruitful discourse between invaders and invaded.In our endeavours to help the marginalised and the indigenous, Budden warns us against the arrogance of pitying them as 'poor superstitious things' who can only be helped by our own superior concept of divine grace. As Budden puts it: 'We need to keep listening for voices that remind us that our normal is not necessarily everybody's normal.' His book encourages us to recognise and appreciate the diverse perspectives of minority theologians. It is not just about giving a voice to these people. It is about being able to hear their own voice, to understand it, and then reinterpret our own tradition according to it.

A groundbreaking study examining the suffering of God in Christian tradition, revealing new insights into the relationship between God and creation.God’s Wounds: Hermeneutic of the Christian Symbol of Divine Suffering is a study of Christian testimonies to divine suffering. The larger study focuses its inquiry on the testimonies to divine suffering themselves, seeking to allow the voices that attest to divine suffering to speak freely. The goal is then to discover and elucidate the internal logic or rationality of this family of testimonies, rather than defending these attestations against the dominant claims of classical Christian theism that have historically sought to eliminate such language altogether from Christian discourse about the nature and life of God.In the first volume, the author develops an approach to interpreting the contested claims about the suffering of God. Through this approach to the Christian symbol of divine suffering, he then investigates the two major presuppositions that the larger family of testimonies to divine suffering normally hold: an understanding of God through the primary metaphor of love (‘God is love’); and an understanding of the human as created in the image of God, with a life (though finite) analogous to the divine life – the imago Dei as love. When fully elaborated, these presuppositions reveal the conditions of possibility for divine suffering and divine vulnerability with respect to creation.The second volume proceeds on the basis of the presuppositions of the symbol, those implicit attestations that permit the possibility of divine suffering – that which constitutes divine vulnerability with respect to creation. The author investigates two divine wounds or modes of divine suffering to which the larger family of testimonies normally attest: (1) divine grief, or suffering due to human sin or betrayal by the beloved human; and (2) divine self-sacrifice, or suffering for the beloved human in its bondage to sin or misery, so as to establish the possibility of redemption and reconciliation.

God's Wounds: Hermeneutic of the Christian Symbol of Divine Suffering, Volume II: Evil and Divine Suffering is the second of a three-volume study of Christian testimonies to divine suffering. The larger study focuses its inquiry on the testimonies to divine suffering themselves, seeking to allow the voices that attest to divine suffering to speak freely. The goal is then to discover and elucidate the internal logic or rationality of this family of testimonies, rather than defending these attestations against the dominant claims of classical Christian theism that have historically sought to eliminate such language altogether from Christian discourse about the nature and life of God. This second volume proceeds on the basis of the presuppositions of the symbol, those implicit attestations that permit the possibility of divine suffering - that which constitutes divine vulnerability with respect to creation. The author investigates two divine wounds or modes of divine suffering to which the larger family of testimonies normally attest: (1) divine grief, or suffering due to human sin or betrayal by the beloved human; and (2) divine self-sacrifice, or suffering for the beloved human in its bondage to sin or misery, so as to establish the possibility of redemption and reconciliation.

A contribution to the literature on the doctrine of the Trinity, critically examining modern theological models to recognise and understanding God's unity.In what sense is God one? How can those who worship Jesus Christ, his Father, and the Holy Spirit claim to be monotheists? These questions were answered by the early church, and their answering analogies, models, and language have come down to the church today. However, theology is not stagnant, and the twentieth century has seen several new models of the Trinity emerge. Many of these models have focused on the three persons without adequately considering the consequences for the unity of God. The One God seeks to develop an understanding of the unity of the Triune God by examining the positions put forward by Karl Rahner, Millard Erickson, John Zizioulas, and Wolfhart Pannenberg. After carefully presenting and critically examining each of these positions, this book offers a synthesis: an understanding of the unity of God that is historically informed, theologically adequate, internally coherent, and able to explain Christian monotheism in a new century. By affirming both the singular divine essence of God and the genuine, eternal interdependence of distinct divine persons in God, The One God affirms the personal and the natural levels of ontology, both crucial for understanding God, humanity, and the world.

A collection of essays exploring the ways in which Psalm 29 has been used and understood in both the Jewish and Christian traditions throughout the ages.Psalm 29, a sacred text in Jewish and Christian Bibles, has been understood in a variety of ways through time and in different traditions. This volume presents a sample of the use and meaning derived from a single biblical text. From the earliest translations to contemporary African Independent Churches, this psalm has been an integral part of synagogue and church; but what it has meant and how it is used is a fascinating journey through human culture. Not only the understanding of the written word, but also the liturgical use and the musical adaptations of a biblical text are considered here. This is a book for anyone-scholar, student, or laity-with an interest in the Bible in its many contexts.

An interdisciplinary analysis of the Book of Daniel, showing how the text can be constructively read as a narrative textbook in theological hermeneutics.Employing such disciplines as historical criticism, literary criticism, narrative theology, and hermeneutics, Reading Daniel as a Text in Theological Hermeneutics seeks to maintain an interdisciplinary approach to the Book of Daniel. Through this approach, the author sets out to understand and interpret the Book of Daniel as a narrative exercise in theological hermeneutics.Two inherently linked perspectives are utilised in this particular reading of the text: First is the perception that the character of Daniel is the paradigm of the good theological hermeneut; theology and hermeneutics are inseparable and converge in the character of Daniel. Second is the standpoint that the Book of Daniel on the whole should be read as a hermeneutics textbook. Readers are led through a series of theories and exercises meant to be instilled into their theological, intellectual, and practical lives.Attention to the reader of the text is a constant theme throughout this thesis. The author’s concern is primarily with contemporary readers and their communities, and so greater emphasis is placed on what the Book of Daniel means for contemporary readers than on what it meant in its historical setting. However, sensible consideration is given to the historical readerly community with which contemporary readers find continuity. In the end, readers are left with difficult challenges, a sobering awareness of the volatility of the business of hermeneutics, and serious implications for readers to implement both theologically and hermeneutically.

An exploration of the motifs of death and resurrection in the Acts of the Apostles, and its theological and sociological role in the Lukan narrative.In this well-argued and clear-structured work, Dennis Horton highlights the shape and function of the death-and-resurrection motif by applying William Freedman's criteria of a literary motif to the Acts narrative. By analysing the statements about death and resurrection together with the examples of this messianic pattern within the experiences of major and minor characters, the motif becomes clear. This primary motif of death and resurrection is then contrasted with a secondary motif of death and decay, which functions as a warning to Christians. Thus suffering is ultimately an integral part of the life in Christ, but one that becomes balanced by renewed and eternal life.Death and Resurrection provides a clear example of a biblical motif and how it develops and functions within the narrative, serving as a valuable guide for future studies of biblical motifs. The work also supplies a needed balance between the extremes of past and present Lukan scholarship by considering the combined effect of suffering and renewed life within a single motif.Both the statements and actions of the characters reveal the importance of the two elements for Lukan theology and soteriology. The function of the motif derives from its usage within the narrative and proves insightful for gaining a better understanding of the aesthetic quality of the story while simultaneously showing how the narrator skillfully wields the motif to provide encouragement to the followers of 'The Way', to issue a warning to would-be persecutors, and to deliver an evangelistic message to potential converts such as the 'God-fearers'. The messianic pattern of death and resurrection becomes a heuristic tool that the narrator carefully applies to create a potent motif with a multifaceted message for a growing and often suffering Christian community.

A study showing how, through the analysis of key passages in his epistles, Paul's theology was influenced by his understanding of the oneness of God.The apostle Paul affirms in several places that there is only one God. Yet in the same letters Paul also gives praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, often using language similar to his descriptions of God. How can this self-avowed Hebrew of Hebrews reconcile these ideas? This book explores the strongest one-God statements in Paul's undisputed letters and asks how Paul's Jewish monotheistic understanding informs his overall argument. These three texts - 1 Corinthians 8:6, Galatians 3:20, and Romans 3:30 - occur in very different contexts and address different issues. By looking at the historical, cultural, and grammatical contexts of these passages, as well as Paul's language about God and Christ elsewhere in these letters, Dr. Nicholson argues that Paul's understanding of the one God is not static or perfunctory; rather, it is dynamic and flexible, influencing significant aspects of Paul's Gospel message. Paul's ethics, his view of salvation history, and his soteriology are fundamentally shaped by his understanding of the one God of Israel.

A creative application of process philosophy to the dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity, and to their dialogue in turn with the natural sciences.While process philosophers and theologians have written numerous essays on Buddhist-Christian dialogue, few have sought to expand the current Buddhist-Christian dialogue into a “trilogue” by bringing the natural sciences into the discussion as a third partner. This was the topic of Paul O. Ingram’s previous book, Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science. The thesis of the present work is that Buddhist-Christian dialogue in all three of its forms – conceptual, social engagement, and interior – are interdependent processes of creative transformation. Ingram appropriates the categories of Whitehead’s process metaphysics as a means of clarifying how dialogue is now mutually and creatively transforming both Buddhism and Christianity.Drawing also on the work of theologian John Hicks and philosopher of science Imre Lakatos, Ingram develops an understanding of Buddhist-Christian dialogue in the context of a religious pluralism that is both open and dynamic and methodologically rigorous. Wide-ranging and full of insight, The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue will be invaluable to scholars and students of comparative religion.

An analysis of the theology of an influential Canadian Presbyterian theologian and his role in bringing neo-orthodox ideas into the North American mainstream.Walter W. Bryden was Principal of Knox College, Toronto, after the Second World War, and one of the leading Presbyterian theologians of the period from the 1920s to the 1950s.In The Neo-Orthodox Theology of W.W. Bryden, John Vissers makes an important contribution by analysing Bryden’s thought, placing it in the context of contemporary European and American theology. Vissers emphasises in particular Bryden’s role in introducing and popularising the ideas of Karl Barth in North America prior to the translation of Barth’s Commentary on Romans into English, and his Neo-Orthodox theology owed much to Barthian ideas. In his most important work, The Christian’s Knowledge of God, Bryden challenged the modernist emphasis on the rational, arguing for a Christocentric doctrine of Revelation.Vissers brings a wealth of scholarship and research to his subject, revealing Bryden’s pivotal role in the development of neo-orthodoxy within the Protestant tradition in North America, a role that previous studies have often failed to explore.

A thought-provoking study of Søren Kierkegaard's less well known writings on economic and political affairs, analysed from a theological perspective.This essay on Søren Kierkegaard and economic matters from a theological perspective is well grounded in the Dane's journals. In these writings, the late nineteenth-century thinker shows his solidarity with rural residents (90 percent of the population) and urbanite menial workers. Topics include the option for the poor; the ideology of impotence; the denouncing of a competitive society; the correlation of wealth and poverty; media, church, university, and theatre as social institutions shaping reality; Christendom; and the retribution doctrine.

A selection of essays that explore the role and importance of wonder in the development in science, philosophy and theology during the early modern era.Philosophy begins with wonder, according to Plato and Aristotle. Yet Plato and Aristotle did not expand a great deal on what precisely wonder is. Does this fact alone not raise curiosity in us as to why this passion or concept is important? What is wonder's role in science, philosophy, or theology except to end thinking or theorizing as soon as one begins? The primary purpose of this book is to show how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century developments in natural theology, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophy of science resulted in a complex history of the passion of wonder-a history in which the elements of continuation, criticism, and reformulation are equally present. Philosophy Begins in Wonder provides the first historical overview of wonder and changes the way we see early modern Europe. It is intended for readers who are curious-who wonder-about how modern philosophy and science were born. The book is for scholars and educated readers alike.

An analysis uniting social theory with Barth's moral theology, emphasising how Christian moral thought is primarily a matter of witness to God's grace.Christian ethics is less a system of principles, rules, or even virtues, and more of a free and open-ended responsible witness to God's gracious action to be with and for others and the world. Postmodernity has left us with the risky uncertainty of knowing and doing the good. It also leaves us with the global risks of political violence and terrorism, economic globalization and financial crisis, and environmental destruction and global climate change. How should Christians respond to these problems? This book creatively explores how Christian ethics is best understood as a witness to God's action, thereby providing the ethical framework for addressing the various problematic social issues that put our world at risk. Haddorff develops the notion of witness through a detailed study of Karl Barth's theological ethics. Barth, he argues, provides a language enabling us to know what a Christian ethics of witness actually looks like in both theory and in practice. In correspondence to God's gracious action, Christians remain free to think and act in faith, hope, and love in respondence to their unique circumstances, even in a world at risk. In their witness, Christians remain confident that God has not abandoned the world but loves and cares for its future.

A challenging analysis of the Book of Joshua, exploring the theological insight gained by seeing the genocidal slaughter by the Israelites as myth not history.Many Christians wrestle with biblical passages in which God commands the slaughter of the Canaanites - men, women, and children - and the book of Joshua in particular showcases the genocidal violence which saturates the Old Testament. The issue of the morality of the God portrayed in these passages is one of the major challenges for faith today, leading many Christians to cast doubt over what, if any, theological value can be gleamed from such accounts and how they can even be called Holy Scripture. In this bold and innovative book Douglas Earl grasps the bull by the horns and guides readers to new and unexpected ways of looking at the book of Joshua.