Blue Ocean Faith

Blue Ocean Faith PDF Author: Dave Schmelzer
Publisher: Front Edge Publishing
ISBN: 194201144X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
People and churches across America are discovering that their secular friends and neighbors have been unknowingly waiting for the chance to experience the good God. Blue Ocean Faith is a network of churches that have seen thousands of secular people—from Harvard deans to public housing residents—connect with God. Blue Ocean founder Dave Schmelzer details six profound paradigm shifts that unlock a depth of connection to God that’s new for many churchgoers and that’s unprecedented for their secular neighbors. Embracing centered-set faith, becoming solus Jesus, and taking a third-way approach to LGBTQ congregants are among the game-changers that empower this rich life of faith. Rather than retreating from or drawing lines against our increasingly secular world, people of faith can join Jesus—as followers like Saint Francis of Assisi have done for millennia—in joyfully entering the world around them with profound wonder and an equally-profound offer of a life that really is life. “Blue Ocean Faith is a riveting book about an exciting new movement of churches emerging out of the ashes of American evangelicalism/fundamentalism. This could be a charter document for a new kind of Jesus movement. Everyone should read it,” writes David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University. With plenty of engaging storytelling, Schmelzer brings together ancient and cutting-edge insights in a book that might revitalize your experience of God, open up your connection to your neighbors and your city … and maybe even kick off a new Jesus movement.

Blue Ocean Faith

Blue Ocean Faith PDF Author: Dave Schmelzer
Publisher: Front Edge Publishing
ISBN: 194201144X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
People and churches across America are discovering that their secular friends and neighbors have been unknowingly waiting for the chance to experience the good God. Blue Ocean Faith is a network of churches that have seen thousands of secular people—from Harvard deans to public housing residents—connect with God. Blue Ocean founder Dave Schmelzer details six profound paradigm shifts that unlock a depth of connection to God that’s new for many churchgoers and that’s unprecedented for their secular neighbors. Embracing centered-set faith, becoming solus Jesus, and taking a third-way approach to LGBTQ congregants are among the game-changers that empower this rich life of faith. Rather than retreating from or drawing lines against our increasingly secular world, people of faith can join Jesus—as followers like Saint Francis of Assisi have done for millennia—in joyfully entering the world around them with profound wonder and an equally-profound offer of a life that really is life. “Blue Ocean Faith is a riveting book about an exciting new movement of churches emerging out of the ashes of American evangelicalism/fundamentalism. This could be a charter document for a new kind of Jesus movement. Everyone should read it,” writes David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University. With plenty of engaging storytelling, Schmelzer brings together ancient and cutting-edge insights in a book that might revitalize your experience of God, open up your connection to your neighbors and your city … and maybe even kick off a new Jesus movement.

Faith & Focus Ocean Blue

Faith & Focus Ocean Blue PDF Author: Christian Planner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781734808537
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


A Letter to My Congregation, Second Edition

A Letter to My Congregation, Second Edition PDF Author: Ken Wilson
Publisher: Read the Spirit Books
ISBN: 1942011407
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
“A breakthrough work coming from the heart of evangelical Christianity,” writes theologian David Gushee. “Wilson shows how God has led him on a journey toward a rethinking of what the fully authoritative and inspired Bible ought to be taken to mean in the life of the church today.” “This book … will shape what the church becomes,” writes anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann. “One of the most exquisite, painful, candid, brilliant pieces … that I have ever seen,” writes Christian author Phyllis Tickle. The second edition contains expanded material.

The Religious Dimensions of Shared Spaces

The Religious Dimensions of Shared Spaces PDF Author: Paul D Numrich
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793639353
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
Space sharing by groups is widespread in the United States, from commercial partnerships, to government and private sector joint use agreements, to the use of public facilities and commons. All space-sharing arrangements are similar in most respects, so what difference does it make when religious groups are involved?

Solus Jesus

Solus Jesus PDF Author: Emily Swan
Publisher: Front Edge Publishing
ISBN: 1641800186
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
If you read one book this year about the future of Christianity, then choose this book. Five hundred years ago the Protestant Reformation claimed the Bible as the authoritative guide for Christian living (“Sola Scriptura!” Only Scripture!). In this groundbreaking work, Emily Swan and Ken Wilson claim the authority of the church is shifting back to where it should be: in Jesus (Solus Jesus!). As co-founders of Blue Ocean Faith, Swan and Wilson are pioneering what it means to be post-evangelical—post-Protestant, even—in a time when such re-imagining is desperately needed. Solus Jesus not only grapples with the authority question in Christianity, but also provides a massive re-think of traditional atonement theories. Leaning on the work of René Girard, they conclude that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus together reveal a completely good, non-violent God who is on the side of the oppressed and scapegoated of this world. As a work of queer theology, the book is intersectional in its understanding of justice, and invites readers to reconsider our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. This book is timely, to say the least. For Christians looking for guidance on how to address distressing issues of injustice; for help understanding how they can faithfully follow Jesus and love their neighbors as themselves; and for practices for how to experience the living Jesus and his Spirit of love—Solus Jesus is the book for you. “Born in a cauldron of faith and pain, Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance is a highly original, deeply provocative first stab at a post-evangelical, post-‘gay debate’ pastoral theology,” writes David P. Gushee, author of Changing Our Mind and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University. “Drawing from personal experience and those who have long carved out theologies far from power, Swan and Wilson show how Solus Jesus can open a portal to the divine communion that is possible between all people,” writes Deborah Jian Lee, author of Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism. “Ken and Emily’s book is loving and courageous, compelling and convicting, scholarly and personal all at once. … This book held up a mirror to my heart, asking me to forsake my anxious need for certainty, to repent of all the rivalries that cripple me, and to rest again like a child, at the breast of a God in whose fierce and fearless love there is home for us all,” writes the Rev. Susan K. Bock of Grace Episcopal Church in Mount Clemens, Michigan. “Solus Jesus challenges us to see the authoritative Jesus in a fresh light, so that his life, message, death, and rising summon us to live in a new way as individuals and congregations,” writes Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration. “Around the world, tension and conflict are signaling a shift in our socio-political conditions. To remain relevant, Christianity must have a response to this moment. Grounding themselves in their lived experience, Ken and Emily are leaning into the conversation and offering a powerful response to the travails of our time. A must-read for Christians looking to discern where the Spirit is leading us in the 21st Century,” writes Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, AME Church Planter, Boston.

Religious Trauma, Queer Identities

Religious Trauma, Queer Identities PDF Author: Joel Hollier
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031277112
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
In a polarised milieu that too often posits “queer” and “Christian” as competing realms, this book explores the complexities of identity development, religious traumatisation, and the task of creating safe faith spaces in which LGBTQA+ people can find healing, particularly in the Evangelical context. First, Joel Hollier examines the historical path of Evangelicalism, providing context for the current terrain of the “culture war” we find ourselves in. He then parses out experiences of gender/sexuality and religious/spiritual identity development, grounding them in an evolving theoretical base. Finally, Hollier offers a rounded critique of Evangelical church structures and mechanisms of trauma that hinder the healing process, along with potential sources of healing. Central to this work are the voices of LGBTQA+ people whose stories weave together a deeper understanding of the harms the Church has perpetrated, and the path forward.

The Logic of Intersubjectivity

The Logic of Intersubjectivity PDF Author: Darren M. Slade
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725268868
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
To survey harsh criticisms against Brian Douglas McLaren (1956‒), readers gain the inaccurate impression that he is a heretical relativist who denies objective truth and logic. While McLaren’s inflammatory and provocative writing style is partly to blame, this study also suspects that his critics base much of their analyses on only small portions of his overall corpus. The result becomes a caricature of McLaren’s actual philosophy of religion. What is argued in this book is that McLaren’s philosophy of religion suggests a faith-based intersubjective relationship with the divine ought to result in an existential appropriation of Christ’s religio-ethical teachings. When subjectively internalized, this appropriation will lead to the assimilation of Jesus’ kingdom priorities, thereby transforming the believer’s identity into one that actualizes Jesus’ kingdom ideals. The hope of this book is that by tracing McLaren’s philosophy of Christian religion, future researchers will not only be able to comprehend (and perhaps empathize with) McLaren’s line of reasoning, but they will also possess a more nuanced discernment of where they agree and disagree with his overall rationale.

Still Christian

Still Christian PDF Author: David P. Gushee
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
ISBN: 1611648270
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
This is a book for folks whose commitment to Jesus has put them at odds with American evangelicalism. —Shane Claiborne So many Americans today love their faith but have found their church doesn't love them back. They then leave, seeking community elsewhere. Of all those personal stories, few have ever been told by someone so far inside the powerful places of white evangelical Christianity. In this provocative tell-all, David Gushee opens the door to the frictions and schisms of evangelicalism, tells his own story of leaving, and shows that you, too, can find a Christianity that is worth following. Gushee’s experiences begin with becoming a born-again Southern Baptist in 1978 and end with being kicked out of evangelicalism in 2014 for his principled stance on full LGBTQ inclusion. But his religious pilgrimage proves even broader than that, as he leads his doctoral studies at Union Seminary in New York, his dismay when the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary expelled female professors and fellow colleagues, to his days as every evangelical’s least-favorite liberal, and more. In telling his story, Gushee speaks to those who have been disillusioned by American Christianity. As he describes his own struggles to find the right path at different stages of his journey, he highlights the turning points and decisions that we all face. When do we compromise, and when do we stand our ground? Is holding to moral conviction worth sacrificing friendship, jobs, and security? As he takes us through his sometimes-amusing, sometimes-heartbreaking, and always-stirring journey, Gushee shows us that we can retain our faith in Christ even when Christians disappoint us.

The Digital Evangelicals

The Digital Evangelicals PDF Author: Travis Warren Cooper
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253062284
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
When it comes to evangelical Christianity, the internet is both a refuge and a threat. It hosts Zoom prayer groups and pornographic videos, religious revolutions and silly cat videos. Platforms such as social media, podcasts, blogs, and digital Bibles all constitute new arenas for debate about social and religious boundaries, theological and ecclesial orthodoxy, and the internet's inherent danger and value. In The Digital Evangelicals, Travis Warren Cooperlocates evangelicalism as a media event rather than as a coherent religious tradition by focusing on the intertwined narratives of evangelical Christianity and emerging digital culture in the United States. He focuses on two dominant media traditions: media sincerity, immediate and direct interpersonal communication, and media promiscuity, communication with the primary goal of extending the Christian community regardless of physical distance. Cooper, whose work is informed by ethnographic fieldwork, traces these conflicting paradigms from the Protestant Reformation through the rise of the digital and argues that the tension is culminating in a crisis of evangelical authority. What counts as authentic interaction? Who has authority over the circulation of information? While many studies claim that technology influences religion, The Digital Evangelicals reveals how Protestant metaphors and discourses shaped the emergence of the internet and explores what this relationship with global new media means for evangelicalism.

Song for the Blue Ocean

Song for the Blue Ocean PDF Author: Carl Safina
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805061222
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
Part odyssey, part pilgrimage, this epic personal narrative follows the author's exploration of coasts, islands, reefs, and the sea's abyssal depths. Scientist and fisherman Carl Safina takes readers on a global journey of discovery, probing for truth about the world's changing seas, deftly weaving adventure, science, and political analysis.