Experiential Christianity

Experiential Christianity PDF Author: Ray Morose
Publisher: Books by Ray Morose
ISBN: 0987213903
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Experiential Christianity The main objective of this book is to illuminate the experiential arm of Christianity, and by doing so, redefine its devotional arm. The devotional arm may guide but it takes the experiential arm to confirm. By its nature, experiential Christianity can bypass religious borders as it is not a dogma, theology, or a belief, but a state of experiential being. Hence, can connect with, and be beneficial to, everyone regardless of his or her religious affiliation. In this reevaluation of Christianity its ‘living’ essence is revealed. That exposure reveals an experiential pathway that unveils a practical foundation for a moral compass to steer one through the various hazards of daily living. By learning to avoid those hazards your one and only purpose in life is revealed, which is to discover the experiential reality of the statement made by Jesus, that ‘God is within you’. Everything else is secondary. Meaning, that experience is primary as it is used to define ‘how’ one lives, acts, and thinks. Based upon that experience a moral foundation naturally arises providing a cornerstone for ethical stances that cannot be manipulated or twisted by the many and varied seductive ‘playthings’ engendered by self-interest. The depth of understanding released by the actual experiential discovery that ‘God is within you’ changes your life forever: you are truly reborn. However, that experience is not achievable by belief alone. You must be willing to experientially delve into the core of your existence to discover the reality of that statement by Jesus. Meaning, you must experience it and not just believe it. For that journey you will require intellectual knowledge of ‘how’ all the internal components of your existence function and interrelate. Without that knowledge you would easily become bewildered and distressed by the confusing quantity of ambiguous information that can block your pathway, and in despair claim that experience is impossible. Hence, this book outlines all the ‘tools’ you need to survive that internal journey and provides a ‘map’ to begin your search. Using both the ‘tools’ and ‘map’ is a personal decision that another cannot make for you. You either do or do not. There is no in-between. Does a non-material entity, referred to as God, exist? Yes. Is it possible to logically confirm that assertion? Yes. Is a personal connection to that entity possible? Absolutely. That personal connection is not hiding. You are hiding from it. This book provides all the necessary information to realize that connection. When that realization is a ‘living’ reality it transforms belief into actuality, establishing the cornerstone of an indestructible faith, that underpins every thought and action in your life. That experience adds experiential authenticity to your life confirming your eternal career has begun: and that beginning has no end.

Experiential Christianity

Experiential Christianity PDF Author: Ray Morose
Publisher: Books by Ray Morose
ISBN: 0987213903
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Get Book Here

Book Description
Experiential Christianity The main objective of this book is to illuminate the experiential arm of Christianity, and by doing so, redefine its devotional arm. The devotional arm may guide but it takes the experiential arm to confirm. By its nature, experiential Christianity can bypass religious borders as it is not a dogma, theology, or a belief, but a state of experiential being. Hence, can connect with, and be beneficial to, everyone regardless of his or her religious affiliation. In this reevaluation of Christianity its ‘living’ essence is revealed. That exposure reveals an experiential pathway that unveils a practical foundation for a moral compass to steer one through the various hazards of daily living. By learning to avoid those hazards your one and only purpose in life is revealed, which is to discover the experiential reality of the statement made by Jesus, that ‘God is within you’. Everything else is secondary. Meaning, that experience is primary as it is used to define ‘how’ one lives, acts, and thinks. Based upon that experience a moral foundation naturally arises providing a cornerstone for ethical stances that cannot be manipulated or twisted by the many and varied seductive ‘playthings’ engendered by self-interest. The depth of understanding released by the actual experiential discovery that ‘God is within you’ changes your life forever: you are truly reborn. However, that experience is not achievable by belief alone. You must be willing to experientially delve into the core of your existence to discover the reality of that statement by Jesus. Meaning, you must experience it and not just believe it. For that journey you will require intellectual knowledge of ‘how’ all the internal components of your existence function and interrelate. Without that knowledge you would easily become bewildered and distressed by the confusing quantity of ambiguous information that can block your pathway, and in despair claim that experience is impossible. Hence, this book outlines all the ‘tools’ you need to survive that internal journey and provides a ‘map’ to begin your search. Using both the ‘tools’ and ‘map’ is a personal decision that another cannot make for you. You either do or do not. There is no in-between. Does a non-material entity, referred to as God, exist? Yes. Is it possible to logically confirm that assertion? Yes. Is a personal connection to that entity possible? Absolutely. That personal connection is not hiding. You are hiding from it. This book provides all the necessary information to realize that connection. When that realization is a ‘living’ reality it transforms belief into actuality, establishing the cornerstone of an indestructible faith, that underpins every thought and action in your life. That experience adds experiential authenticity to your life confirming your eternal career has begun: and that beginning has no end.

The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience

The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience PDF Author: Simeon Zahl
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192562762
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience, Simeon Zahl presents a fresh vision for Christian theology that foregrounds the relationship between theological ideas and the experiences of Christians. He argues that theology is always operating in a vibrant landscape of feeling and desiring, and shows that contemporary theology has often operated in problematic isolation from these experiential dynamics. He then argues that a theologically serious doctrine of the Holy Spirit not only authorizes but requires attention to Christian experience. Against this background, Zahl outlines a new methodological approach to Christian theology that attends to the emotional and experiential power of theological ideas. This methodology draws on recent interdisciplinary work on affect and emotion, which has shown that affects are powerful motivating realities that saturate all dimensions of human thinking and acting. In the process, Zahl also explains why contemporary theology has often been ambivalent about subjective experience, and demonstrates that current discourse about God's activity in the world is often artificially abstracted from experience and embodiment. At the heart of the book, Zahl proposes a new account of the theology of grace from this experiential and pneumatological perspective. Focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation and sanctification, he retrieves insights from Augustine, Luther, and Philip Melanchthon to present an affective and Augustinian vision of salvation as a pedagogy of desire. In articulating this vision, Zahl engages critically with recent emphasis on participation and theosis in Christian soteriology, and charts a new path forward for Protestant theology in a landscape hitherto dominated by the theological visions of Barth and Aquinas.

The Things of Earth

The Things of Earth PDF Author: Joe Rigney
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433544768
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
God’s world is full of good things. Ice-cold lemonade. The laughter of children. College football. Scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. A late night with old friends around a blazing campfire. God certainly knows how to give good gifts to his children. But where is the line when it comes to enjoying all the pleasurable things our world affords? In The Things of Earth, professor Joe Rigney offers perplexed Christians a breath of fresh air by lifting the burden of false standards and impossible expectations related to the Christian life—freeing readers to gratefully embrace every good thing we receive from the hand of God. Helping us avoid our tendency to forget the Giver on the one hand and neglect his gifts on the other, this much-needed book reminds us that God’s blessings should drive us to worship and that a passion for God’s glory can be as wide as the world itself.

When God Talks Back

When God Talks Back PDF Author: T.M. Luhrmann
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307277275
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
A New York Times Notable Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 A bold approach to understanding the American evangelical experience from an anthropological and psychological perspective by one of the country's most prominent anthropologists. Through a series of intimate, illuminating interviews with various members of the Vineyard, an evangelical church with hundreds of congregations across the country, Tanya Luhrmann leaps into the heart of evangelical faith. Combined with scientific research that studies the effect that intensely practiced prayer can have on the mind, When God Talks Back examines how normal, sensible people—from college students to accountants to housewives, all functioning perfectly well within our society—can attest to having the signs and wonders of the supernatural become as quotidian and as ordinary as laundry. Astute, sensitive, and extraordinarily measured in its approach to the interface between science and religion, Luhrmann's book is sure to generate as much conversation as it will praise.

The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World

The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World PDF Author: Deanna A. Thompson
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1501815199
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
We live in a wired world where 24/7 digital connectivity is increasingly the norm. Christian megachurch communities often embrace this reality wholeheartedly while more traditional churches often seem hesitant and overwhelmed by the need for an interactive website, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. This book accepts digital connectivity as our reality, but presents a vision of how faith communities can utilize technology to better be the body of Christ to those who are hurting while also helping followers of Christ think critically about the limits of our digital attachments. This book begins with a conversion story of a non-cell phone owning, non-Facebook using religion professor judgmental of the ability of digital tools to enhance relationships. A stage IV cancer diagnosis later, in the midst of being held up by virtual communities of support, a conversion occurs: this religion professor benefits in embodied ways from virtual sources and wants to convert others to the reality that the body of Christ can and does exist virtually and makes embodied difference in the lives of those who are hurting. The book neither uncritically embraces nor rejects the constant digital connectivity present in our lives. Rather it calls on the church to a) recognize ways in which digital social networks already enact the virtual body of Christ; b) tap into and expand how Christ is being experienced virtually; c) embrace thoughtfully the material effects of our new augmented reality, and c) influence utilization of technology that minimizes distraction and maximizes attentiveness toward God and the world God loves.

Religious Experience Reconsidered

Religious Experience Reconsidered PDF Author: Ann Taves
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400830974
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
How the sciences of the mind can advance the study of religion The essence of religion was once widely thought to be a unique form of experience that could not be explained in neurological, psychological, or sociological terms. In recent decades scholars have questioned the privileging of the idea of religious experience in the study of religion, an approach that effectively isolated the study of religion from the social and natural sciences. Religious Experience Reconsidered lays out a framework for research into religious phenomena that reclaims experience as a central concept while bridging the divide between religious studies and the sciences. Ann Taves shifts the focus from "religious experience," conceived as a fixed and stable thing, to an examination of the processes by which people attribute meaning to their experiences. She proposes a new approach that unites the study of religion with fields as diverse as neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, and psychology to better understand how these processes are incorporated into the broader cultural formations we think of as religious or spiritual. Taves addresses a series of key questions: how can we set up studies without obscuring contestations over meaning and value? What is the relationship between experience and consciousness? How can research into consciousness help us access and interpret the experiences of others? Why do people individually or collectively explain their experiences in religious terms? How can we set up studies that allow us to compare experiences across times and cultures? Religious Experience Reconsidered demonstrates how methods from the sciences can be combined with those from the humanities to advance a naturalistic understanding of the experiences that people deem religious.

Revelation

Revelation PDF Author:
Publisher: Canongate Books
ISBN: 0857861018
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

The American Church Experience

The American Church Experience PDF Author: Thomas A. Askew
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725222957
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
"A welcome addition to the ongoing reflection on the meaning of religion in America. The authors are both responsible as scholars and accessible as writers. Teachers, students, clergy, and laity will find this book worthwhile. It deserves a wide reading." -- Ronald A. Wells, Professor of History, Calvin College; editor, Fides et Historia "This is a most welcome update of the first textbook survey of American church history. The American Church Experience retains all the virtues of the original--brevity, clarity, and evenhandedness--while incorporating recent historical developments and contemporary historical scholarship." --Michael S. Hamilton, Associate Professor of History, Seattle Pacific University "Specialists and general readers alike should welcome this valuable new resource in American religious history. I certainly plan to recommend it to my students." --Garth M. Rosell, Professor of Church History and Director of the Ockenga Institute at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary "Captures the ebb and flow of religious history in a scholarly and precise way while retaining a highly readable quality. Students will be challenged and laypeople will be informed about America's fascinating religious heritage. This book is a must for the pastor's study and for the church library." --Ruth A. Tucker, author of From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions "Tom Askew and Dick Pierard provide a lively and succinct account of the origins, expansion, and struggles of the faith in America. Their analyses are enhanced by commendable balance and a healthy global perspective. This volume will prove to be an excellent resource for church study groups as well as for undergraduate and seminary classes." --James A. Patterson, Professor of Christian Studies, Union University

Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America

Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America PDF Author: Julius H. Rubin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019535947X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
This original examination of the spiritual narratives of conversion in the history of American Protestant evangelical religion reveals an interesting paradox. Fervent believers who devoted themselves completely to the challenges of making a Christian life, who longed to know God's rapturous love, all too often languished in despair, feeling forsaken by God. Ironically, those most devoted to fostering the soul's maturation neglected the well-being of the psyche. Drawing upon many sources, including unpublished diaries and case studies of patients treated in nineteenth-century asylums, Julius Rubin's fascinating study thoroughly explores religious melancholy--as a distinctive stance toward life, a grieving over the loss of God's love, and an obsession and psychopathology associated with the spiritual itinerary of conversion. The varieties of this spiritual sickness include sinners who would fast unto death ("evangelical anorexia nervosa"), religious suicides, and those obsessed with unpardonable sin. From colonial Puritans like Michael Wigglesworth to contemporary evangelicals like Billy Graham, among those who directed the course of evangelical religion and of their followers, Rubin shows that religious melancholy has shaped the experience of self and identity for those who sought rebirth as children of God.

Religious Experience and the Knowledge of God

Religious Experience and the Knowledge of God PDF Author: Harold A. Netland
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493434896
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
For many Christians, personal experiences of God provide an important ground or justification for accepting the truth of the gospel. But we are sometimes mistaken about our experiences, and followers of other religions also provide impressive testimonies to support their religious beliefs. This book explores from a philosophical and theological perspective the viability of divine encounters as support for belief in God, arguing that some religious experiences can be accepted as genuine experiences of God and can provide evidence for Christian beliefs.