Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship

Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship PDF Author: Anne-Marie Ellithorpe
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119756960
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
A unique and incisive exploration of the place and nature of friendship in both its personal and civic dimensions In Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship, distinguished theological researcher Anne-Marie Ellithorpe delivers a constructive and insightful exploration of the place and nature of friendship as innate to being human, to the human vocation, and to life within the broader community. Of particular interest to members and leaders of faith communities, this book responds to contemporary concerns regarding relationality and offers a comprehensive theology of friendship. The author provides an inclusive and interdisciplinary study that brings previous traditions and texts into dialogue with contemporary contexts and concerns, including examples from Indigenous and Euro-Western cultures. Readers will reflect on the theology of friendship and the interrelationship between friendship and community, think critically about their own social and theological imagination, and develop an integrative approach to theological reflection that draws on Don Browning’s Fundamental Practical Theology. Integrating philosophical, anthropological, and theological perspectives on the study of friendship, this book presents: A thorough introduction to contemporary questions on friendship and discussions of co-existing friendship worlds Comprehensive explorations of friendship in first and second testament writings, as well as friendship within classical and Christian traditions Practical discussions of theology, friendship, and the social imagination, including explorations of mutuality and spirit-shaped friendships Considerations for outworking friendship ideals within communities of practice, from the perspective of strategic (or fully) practical theology Perfect for graduate and advanced undergraduate students taking courses on friendship or practical theology, Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship will also earn a place in the libraries of scholars of practical theology and community practitioners, including ministers, priests, pastors, spiritual advisors, and counselors.

Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship

Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship PDF Author: Anne-Marie Ellithorpe
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119756960
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Get Book Here

Book Description
A unique and incisive exploration of the place and nature of friendship in both its personal and civic dimensions In Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship, distinguished theological researcher Anne-Marie Ellithorpe delivers a constructive and insightful exploration of the place and nature of friendship as innate to being human, to the human vocation, and to life within the broader community. Of particular interest to members and leaders of faith communities, this book responds to contemporary concerns regarding relationality and offers a comprehensive theology of friendship. The author provides an inclusive and interdisciplinary study that brings previous traditions and texts into dialogue with contemporary contexts and concerns, including examples from Indigenous and Euro-Western cultures. Readers will reflect on the theology of friendship and the interrelationship between friendship and community, think critically about their own social and theological imagination, and develop an integrative approach to theological reflection that draws on Don Browning’s Fundamental Practical Theology. Integrating philosophical, anthropological, and theological perspectives on the study of friendship, this book presents: A thorough introduction to contemporary questions on friendship and discussions of co-existing friendship worlds Comprehensive explorations of friendship in first and second testament writings, as well as friendship within classical and Christian traditions Practical discussions of theology, friendship, and the social imagination, including explorations of mutuality and spirit-shaped friendships Considerations for outworking friendship ideals within communities of practice, from the perspective of strategic (or fully) practical theology Perfect for graduate and advanced undergraduate students taking courses on friendship or practical theology, Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities: A Practical Theology of Friendship will also earn a place in the libraries of scholars of practical theology and community practitioners, including ministers, priests, pastors, spiritual advisors, and counselors.

Practicing Faith

Practicing Faith PDF Author: Lisa Spriggens
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725276372
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
The integration of theology and social vocation invites scholars and practitioners to reach outside their discipline and into relationship with others. Out of these relationships new ways of enacting faith and informing practice can emerge. This book brings together a collection of essays engaging with the integration of theology and social vocation. Designed to reflect and invite dialogue, these authors engage with the relationship between faith and practice as it is expressed in their own area of interest and speciality. Arranged in five themed dialogues—wellbeing, formation, hospitality, therapy, and theology—each essay reflects the unique dynamics of its author’s integrative process and offers something new to the ongoing conversation between theology and social vocation. This set of essays will be of interest to practitioners and students concerned to infuse their faith with their practice of vocation, to develop a practicing faith.

Multireligious Reflections on Friendship

Multireligious Reflections on Friendship PDF Author: Anne-Marie Ellithorpe
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666917362
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Multireligious Reflections on Friendship: Becoming Ourselves in Community presents a multi-religious discussion of spiritual and ethical formation through friendship. Contributors discuss the positive effects of friendship and some of the culturally diverse ways that friendships develop. Friends help us co-exist in diverse societies, live sustainably in our ecosystems, heal from trauma, develop inner virtues, engage wisely in social action, and connect with the divine. While friendship is a core human value, cultural traditions have used different tools to build friendships. For example, Indigenous communities emphasize reciprocity on the land; Jewish traditions encourage respect for study partners; Buddhist teachers suggest discernment in befriending; Christian texts speak of bringing God’s love into community. The fifteen scholars contributing to this book draw on the teachings of six different global traditions: Indigenous, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian. Each scholar applies the tools of their tradition—reciprocity, respect, discernment, love, and more—to discuss how we might become our best selves in community.

Exploring Integrity in the Christian Church

Exploring Integrity in the Christian Church PDF Author: Simon Robinson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031656873
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description


Visions of the End Times

Visions of the End Times PDF Author: Laura Duhan-Kaplan
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666736953
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Global challenges fill the news today. It’s not always easy to balance fear with hope. That’s why this book points to resources for optimism and action. A diverse group of scholars draw on Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Māori traditions to describe challenges and hopes. They recognize the ruptures of militarism, trauma, colonialism, religious nationalism, climate change, and more. But they also describe the healing power of communal action, spiritual practices, biblical literature, and the arts.

Christian Witness in Cascadian Soil

Christian Witness in Cascadian Soil PDF Author: Ross A. Lockhart
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725260255
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
The Centre for Missional Leadership at St. Andrew’s Hall, Vancouver, has curated a dynamic collection of essays from missional thinkers in church and academy. Together, they explore both the pitfalls and possibilities of Christian witness in the post-Christendom soil of the Pacific Northwest. What does it mean to till, plant, and nurture Christian community while awaiting growth in the rocky soil of secularity, in this West Coast land better known for its hipsters, baristas, and outdoor lifestyle? Each chapter is an attempt to dust for divine fingerprints at work within the church and wider culture, giving evidence of God’s activity in our midst. Within this book you will encounter women and men who are finding hopeful ways to proclaim and live the gospel that are bearing fruit and growing hope within Christian communities and the neighborhoods they call home.

Unlikely Friends

Unlikely Friends PDF Author: David W. Scott
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725286378
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Can something as simple as friendship have a transformative impact in a divided world? Through a series of richly textured historical portraits and reflections on personal experience, this book shows that boundary-crossing friendships in Christian mission have shaped theologies, built organizations and partnerships, facilitated mission work, and changed attitudes and ways of thinking. This is true in settings as varied as eighteenth-century French women’s work, twentieth-century urban Boston, colonial India, the Jim Crow South, and twentieth-century rural Congo. In all these settings and more, friendship has mattered. Boundary-crossing friendships are, however, not easy. Despite their power, such friendships are complicated by race, gender, ability, class, nationality, and other elements of identity, as this book also demonstrates. Friendships are not immune from the divisions in the world, nor a simple cure-all for them. Still, friendship stands as a powerful testimony to the gospel. Therefore, the book calls for more attention to friendship in the study of mission history and more living out of friendship as a practice of mission. In this way, this book pays honor to Dr. Dana L. Robert as a pre-eminent mission scholar and exemplary friend and mentor to others in the fields of missiology and world Christianity.

Theology and Down Syndrome

Theology and Down Syndrome PDF Author: Amos Yong
Publisher: Baylor University Press
ISBN: 1602580065
Category : Church work with people with disabilities
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
"While the struggle for disability rights has transformed secular ethics and public policy, traditional Christian teaching has been slow to account for disability in its theological imagination. Amos Yong crafts both a theology of disability and a theology informed by disability. The result is a Christian theology that not only connects with our present social, medical, and scientific understanding of disability but also one that empowers a set of best practices appropriate to our late modern context"--Publisher description.

The Purpose Gap

The Purpose Gap PDF Author: Patrick B. Reyes
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 164698191X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
In The Purpose Gap, Patrick Reyes reflects on a family member's death after a long struggle with incarceration and homelessness. As he asks himself why his cousin's life had turned out so differently from his own, he realizes that it was a matter of conditions. While they both grew up in the same marginalized Chicano community in central California, Patrick found himself surrounded by a host of family, friends, and supporters. They created a different narrative for him than the one the rest of the world had succeeded in imposing on his cousin. In short, they created the conditions in which Patrick could not only survive but thrive. Far too much of the literature on leadership tells the story of heroic individuals creating their success by their own efforts. Such stories fail to recognize the structural obstacles to thriving faced by those in marginalized communities. If young people in these communities are to grow up to lives of purpose, others must help create the conditions to make that happen. Pastors, organizational leaders, educators, family, and friends must all perceive their calling to create new stories and new conditions of thriving for those most marginalized. This book offers both inspiration and practical guidance for how to do that. It offers advice on creating safe space for failure, nurturing networks that support young people of color, and professional guidance for how to implement these strategies in one's congregation, school, or community organization.

Spiritual Friendship

Spiritual Friendship PDF Author: Wesley Hill
Publisher: Brazos Press
ISBN: 1441227512
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
Christianity Today Book Award Winner Friendship is a relationship like no other. Unlike the relationships we are born into, we choose our friends. It is also tenuous--we can end a friendship at any time. But should friendship be so free and unconstrained? Although our culture tends to pay more attention to romantic love, marriage, family, and other forms of community, friendship is a genuine love in its own right. This eloquent book reminds us that Scripture and tradition have a high view of friendship. Single Christians, particularly those who are gay and celibate, may find it is a form of love to which they are especially called. Writing with deep empathy and with fidelity to historic Christian teaching, Wesley Hill retrieves a rich understanding of friendship as a spiritual vocation and explains how the church can foster friendship as a basic component of Christian discipleship. He helps us reimagine friendship as a robust form of love that is worthy of honor and attention in communities of faith. This book sets forth a positive calling for celibate gay Christians and suggests practical ways for all Christians to cultivate stronger friendships.